Friend in need
by Kycklingk
Summary: Victoria is just about to become a queen and feelings are everywhere, but mostly they concern a certain orange friend of hers. She is happy she's got another friend in Tugger to confide in when she needs to.
1. Chapter 1

**So here goes nothing, my first fanfiction ever and I have only been struck with the cats-fever for a few weeks so please let me know what you think. I would love a review. Anyway, I will keep write it and see where it goes, it has already expanded quite a lot more than I had imagined. Also, english is not my first language so I would love some help with the grammar and spelling if needed.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Cats :(**

It was a normal feeling Victoria knew. She felt something along the lines of it everyday even though she wouldn't consider herself a romantic kitten it was normal to feel that tingling in your body when you were about to become a queen. She wasn't very outgoing and even though she enjoyed the other cats company the white kitten rarely wanted to be the centre of attention. Very well, others liked that role better she thought while looking over at the Rum Tum Tugger. She admired him probably as much as all of the other kittens and queens too, but it was quite intimidating to think about being the centre of everyones attention like that. And maybe even more so being the centre of _his_ attention.

She really just liked being part of the group but having the opportunity to stand on the edge watching more than participating.

"Vicki!"

"Oh, hi, hello," Victoria mumbled to Rumpleteazer, realising she must have missed something more before that.

"You're as far away as always" she said giving her a quick nuzzle which made the fur rise in her neck like it always did with physical contact. Her friend knew that and only touched her when she forgot or had to.

"Heh, no just thinking", she said a bit embarrassed.

"Can't stop looking at little lion king of the playground can we? "Rumpleteazer said with a smirk face.

"Oh! Ehm no no just, wishing I had confidence a bit more like that, well not like that, it's too much, but yeah", she managed to get out.

"Oh he's got much confidence, you sure about that? Watch this" said Rumpleteazer blinking and the orange cat started making her way towards the maine coon.

'What did I start now?' Victoria thought as her friends tail wagged away making a swirl in the air as she passed Tugger. She stopped a few steps later lounged out on the ground and started stretching. The movements didn't go unnoticed by the larger tom who lost interest in his own grooming and moved over a bit closer.

" Well hello there Teazer, need a hand?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh I just can't get that last bit of stiffness out of my back muscles" she said turning over to the side and stretching out even more.

"Well what have you done to get that soar?" he said, moving in closer as the invite got obvious.

" _That_ is none of your business" she said with a smile and rolled over stretching the other side of her back.

"Maybe someone should take a look at those stiff muscle of yours, give them a good massage?" he said letting his tail wander along her leg.

"Maybe.." she said moving in closer to the maine coon before pulling up gracely "Vicki? I'd love to have your paws all over my back if you don't mind?" she said walking slowly towards Victoria.

Victoria choked on a laugh as she saw Tuggers face, leaving him confused with the lack of attention.

"Sure" she said "Let's go back to my den." the two soon to be queens made it past the corner before breaking down into laughter.

"Sorry I just couldn't resist" Rumpleteazer laughed. "Though I wouldn't mind a little help with my right side if you don't mind?"

"Of course, come on".

Everyone knew Victoria was really good at taking care of her body, always warming up before dancing, always stretching afterwards, rolling out her muscles and massaging her legs to be able to practise more than any other cat. She also helped other cats if they asked her but they rarely did since they knew she didn't like the body contact too much. Except Teazer. She always asked when she needed it and because of that Victoria had gotten quite used to that kind of contact. But still, she wanted to get away a bit from people, she knew it was okey but it felt a bit too intimate to take care of someones pain in front of others.

"I just can't believe you have to do that to him all the time" Victoria laughed. "You know he can't stand the thought of not being the centre of attention"

"Well that's what's so funny" the orange cat smiled "He only wants what he can't have and I like the thought of him _not_ having me".

"I don't understand why you are so immune to his seduction, no one else is?" Vicky asked

"Well you're immune too! You never lose control around him" Teazer said with a bigger smile, but then changing to a bit more concerned look as Victoria blushed and looked away. "What? I see you talk to him alone almost every day and you never lose it, he doesn't even turn the act up when he's around you"

"Yeah I know." Victoria said. "Let's start on those muscles now shall we?" she continued pointing to a soft spot on the ground for Rumpleteazer to lie down.

"Oh, I didn't know you wanted to"

"I don't. Really. But you know, he doesn't even try, it's almost rude of him. I'm not trying to get the flirting but it's like he is only interested in what i think..." she mumbled

"... and not in what you look like?"

"It's stupid"

"No, no, Vicky, you're the prettiest of all kittens and queens here, even Tugger gets that his perverted side is way out of your league. He's got nothing on you, I bet he's too embarrassed to even try with his act. He sure do like you though" Victoria blushed at the compliments, smiling that her friend thought that about her. She didn't feel pretty that often.

"I like him too. I'm actually glad he's not doing it to me, I wouldn't know how to react and I don't think we could talk as relaxed if he did"

"You okey then?" Rumpleteazer asked and Victoria nodded. "You really _are_ the prettiest one here." she said before taking place on the ground where Victoria pointed out earlier.

Victoria blushed again, feeling that tingling white cat liked feeling pretty even though it was only a friendly compliment.


	2. Chapter 2

Victoria practised dancing positions on her way to the clearing where she usually did most of her practise. It was like she couldn't help herself, smiling and humming as she danced along. It was great having a friend who could make you feel that way. She felt like the back rub she had given was really appreciated and it felt almost like there was a low current of electricity wandering through her paws still. She had accidentally sat too close to Teazer as she was starting the massage and could feel the same kind of electricity tingle on the outside of her right knee.

"Hello Vicky" she heard a voice from the side.

"Hello Tugger"

"Are you going to dance? Can I go with you?" he asked, making sure there were a small space between their arms as they started walking along.

"Sure". She never danced in pairs but didn't mind the company when she practised solo.

"You look pretty with that smile" he said smiling back at her without all that flirting act in his voice.

"Oh" she blushed, hoping this wasn't a time she should have been careful what she wished for.

"No, no I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, you just looked a bit different today, like you also felt how pretty you are" he said still without that undertone he used with everyone else. Victoria started to believe it was only a sincere compliment and nothing more. She really didn't want to be on the list of things he thought he couldn't have.

"Thank you, you don't look that different from normal". she said not knowing how to take the compliment.

"Haha, well not everyone can keep telling me I look gorgeous" he laughed and she felt like it was back to normal. "Can we talk a bit while you practise?" he asked as they came to the clearing.

She always practised early in the morning before the day started so she could sleep later. Most of the other cats preferred waking up in the afternoon and staying up until just before the sun came up. Victoria had always liked being awake alone a few hours in the morning and sleeping until the sun set in the evening. That was how she started hanging out with Tugger, he was the only other cat up at this time. It was only her orange friend and her brother who knew they met up like this. Rumpleteazer and her brother Mungojerrie liked the morning hours as well but they never spent them in the junkyard but sometimes they spotted each other when they came back from their burglar rounds. Victoria and Tugger rarely spoke to each other during the day when other cats were around.

"Yeah, of course". She appreciated that he never interfered with her practise and that he always made sure to keep a little bit of space between them.

"Was everything okey with Teazer? She wasn't hurt or anything in the back?" he asked with a bit of concern.

"Just stiff in the muscles, like she said… well, it's just, I know she doesn't have to do that, but you know, she likes everyones attention almost as much as you do" Victoria said, apologising a bit for her friends behaviour.

"Yeah, sure, I can spare a little bit of it" He said laughing with his usual smirk. Lifting the corner of his lips a bit and with frowning eyebrows he continued " But did she say anything about me afterwards?"

"Like what?" Victoria lifted one eyebrow as she kept warming up. Quite surprised by the look on his face.

"Nah, I mean, you're great at handling muscles but I guess she would like _my_ touch in a whole different way, you know, strong manly paws" he said getting his face back to the normal confident lion king of the playground.

"I wouldn't know" Victoria said with a sigh, a bit uncomfortable at the thought.

"Oh I didn't thought you'd like that touch at all?" he said going back to a very worried face.

"I don't" she said firmly. "I meant that I wouldn't know that Teazer would like it, she didn't mention any wishes in that direction" Victoria pointed out a bit harder than she meant to.

"You lost that pretty smile of yours" Tugger said realising he had took it too far.

"She's my friend you know, I don't like it when you talk like that" she mumbled.

"Sorry" he said.

She nodded and continued from warm up to dancing.

Tugger rarely apologised for anything, it was something he only did to Victoria. He just respected her in a different way from everybody else. He was a rather physical cat, enjoying the small touches of a paw on the back, the quick nuzzle or a slight brush of a tail but he had never asked Victoria why she hated it so much. She barely ever told him anything unless he asked her, and for some reason he could feel that this was something private.

He could never sleep at this hour. He had always wandered around during the early day when everyone else was sleeping, restless, like something crawled under his fur, only taking short naps when his eyes almost closed by themselves only to wake up shortly after going back to his restless self. He was always uncomfortable without the attention from all the other cats, not knowing what to do with himself when no one looked. But since he started seeing Victoria in the mornings he always felt a lot more relaxed even after they parted and he could sleep deeply for several hours. He hadn't told her that but he felt like she knew in some way. He smiled at himself thinking he had to thank her for his beauty sleep, it did wonders. Maybe it was the other cats who should thank her, they seemed to enjoy his good looks almost as much as he did himself. But never Victoria. She probably liked it too but it never felt like that was his best feature when he was with her.

When she started dancing she usually didn't answer as much and he went over talking more casually about things instead. He really liked to watch her dance. It was like running water, she flowed around dancing better than anyone in the tribe. When other queens danced he liked to imagine participating, wanting to touch and tease, lift them and kiss them but with Victoria he only enjoyed the mesmerizing appearance of what a cat could do with perfect body control.


	3. Chapter 3

Victoria always slept really well after her morning practise but even though it wasn't as focused with Tugger there she felt like she improved under his watch. The extra time training was of course important but she felt like he helped her relax and dare to try new things even though they never talked that much about the dancing during their mornings. Everyone else was really quick to tell her how much better she was than them at dancing and after that talking about their own dancing and how they never would be that good. Victoria felt the silence from Tugger paired with the effect of someone watching her practise made her think about herself instead of others. And with someone else there she couldn't start crying or give up when things didn't go her way, she had to push through even though no one else put that pressure on her. She had never told him any of this but figured he might know, and if he didn't maybe she rocked the balance by telling him. She had him to thank for a lot actually.

When she were done with dancing, her long ritual of stretching and massaging out her muscles started. They kept talking casually and Victoria could see Rumpleteazer and her brother returning from their round with a rather small bag this time. Walking past Tuggers back without him noticing, just a small smile and and wink from her friend and Victoria got her own smile back.

She kept smiling as she started falling asleep. There was at least two cats thinking she was pretty, and she actually felt it for a while too.

When the sun went down Victoria started waking up. She had slept so much better than usual, and felt like that smile she got from yesterday was still lingering on like a small superpower giving her energy. Before she could even get on with her morning stretches there was someone entering her den. It could only be her orange friend, no one else would even think about entering without knocking and getting the proper answer to get in. She sat up and smiled again.

"Hello there sleepy head, did you see me last night when we got back?"

"Yeah, I didn't know if you wanted Tugger to know so I didn't wave. You had a really small bag with you back, no luck?"

" No not really, I didn't want to stay out longer when we didn't get in anywhere and I thought I might have time to stop by when you practised." she said kind of rambling like always but with some kind of undertone Victoria couldn't figure out.

"Why didn't you stop then? You did pass by." she asked her thinking it is easier to get a straight answer when you're asking straight questions.

"Nah I didn't want to disturb you… Does Tugger know that I know about your meetings?"

"I don't know, I don't think he cares, do you?"

"Well, I have never seen you talk like that when everyone else is around, I don't think I've seen you talk at all in front of others." She said, and Victoria started thinking if that were true. Maybe. They didn't really talk otherwise, but maybe they didn't talk at all, just saying hello and bye. It felt like the communication system they used in the mornings didn't work when others were around, like there was a signal that got disturbed.

"No not really I guess"

" Doesn't it bother you? I mean you said he only cares about what you think but it doesn't seem like he's caring at all when others are around"

"Like he's ashamed of me?" Victoria asked, hadn't even thought about that. She had thought he was kind of indifferent to her because she wasn't pretty, but she never thought that he didn't care what she thought when the others were there. It was like, their way of communication didn't work then so they didn't try.

"Yeah, kind of. I don't mean that he is, it's just like… I think he doesn't know that anybody knows about your meetings."

"I really don't think anything would change if someone knew Teazer, He is vain but he is not a cat who is ashamed of things."

"Well, can I stop by and say hello sometime then?" She asked, as Victoria realised this was her plan all along. Maybe even her plan yesterday but she didn't follow through.

"Sure, anytime."

"What _do_ you talk about when he stops by like that?" Rumpleteazer said curious.

"I don't know if we have a theme, it's just stuff. It's mostly him talking… Oh, yesterday we actually talked about you" she said remembering the comment and regretting she brought it up immediately.

"Really?" her friend said rather surprised and amused.

"He just wondered about your back." she said thinking it was best to avoid the rest of it.

"Haha, I bet he was quite willing to take care of it himself, but nothing compares to Vickis soft paws!" She said putting her own paw around Victorias shoulders. She reacted like always, with a shiver and froze a bit. "Sorry, i forget" said her friend removing the paw.

"It's ok, but yeah something along those lines"

"He's so full of it!"

They laughed together and started getting ready for the night.

Victoria couldn't really stop thinking about that embrace from Teazer. It wasn't uncomfortable, only unexpected this time and she could feel that low current of electricity flowing down her back. She kind of wished her friend would have stroked her paw down along her spine, she thought and blushed a little. It was a weird feeling, wanting to be touched by another cat. It was so unlike her normal self that she didn't know what to think. Was she changing? What did it mean? Did she want her friend to touch her in a different way too? Like a mate? Even the thought made her blush really deep and she felt both 'yes' and 'absolutely no'. Her feelings and thoughts were all over the place. Tomorrow was the first day that she and her friends she grew up with would become queens, maybe that meant a little bit more stability in head and heart? She'd really hope so, because that feeling all down her spine both made her smile and want to start crying. It was so different.


	4. Chapter 4

During the nights all the Jellicle cats usually practised dancing and singing together. Some were off taking care of the smallest kittens and others patrolled the junkyard but they all made some time during the night to practise. Today Victoria and Rumpleteazer practised together with most of the other cats their age but also those born a couple of years ahead joined in. Victoria as always a bit on the edge of the group practising solo but talking when being talked to. Most of the others circled around Tugger and Bombalurina who entertained the crowd by trying to throw off the other cat with small comments, moves and innuendos. Teazer tried to get in with the older cats by smart comments and winks she had picked up, she really loved the attention as well. And as long as Tugger could be the centre he didn't mind that the others joined in. He loved his fanclub but the interactive audience kept him on his toes and he liked the challenge, almost always coming out on top. They had started some kind of dare contest. Bombalurina kissed the Rum Tum Tugger on the chin and he purred back to egg her on, but she knew you couldn't give him too much, it wouldn't be fun. She instead leaned in and kissed Rumpleteazer quickly on the mouth and her friend got really red but made a quick comeback by squeezing the older queens ass a second. Everyone cheered and the kitten and queen were declared winners, even though Tugger quickly stole the show back by telling everyone he was the winner getting to watch that up close. Victoria laughed, her friend was so fun and relaxed, she always could get back on track when someone surprised her. The tingling feeling down her spine returned and she could almost feel the warmth of her friends arm. Nope, too close! She panicked as she realized Plato had laid his arm over her shoulders. She slipped away with all the hair in the neck raised and ran away from the group.

She had panicked and hoped no one saw her, but when she turned a corner she could hear her friend call after her and all the others started mumbling and gossip. It felt really wrong, she was angry and sad. It was like the toms touch had ruined the current and made it go wild, it felt like sparks under her fur and she couldn't control it. What did this mean? It wasn't a good feeling, but it wasn't bad either, it was just too much. She wanted to cry but managed to stop herself when Rumpleteazer caught up with her.

"Are you okey?" her friend asked

"Yeah, it's fine, really. " She said even though it was far from.

"I told him to never touch you again!" Her friend almost shouted. she was really upset.

"Oh no you didn't have to" Victoria said, hating that this got all the attention that she didn't want it to.

"He knows you hate it, and he did it anyway, that's not okey!"

"No I guess it's not.. but I shouldn't had panicked like that, I could have told him myself" 'If it hadn't been that you already activated my inner electricity' she avoided to add.

"Well, I made him really scared" her friend said quite proudly. "But I think Tugger's gonna talk to him, make him apologise, you should have seen his face, it wasn't me that Plato should have gotten scared of"

"Oh, okey thank you, I'll have to thank him too I guess...But really I shouldn't be so tensed, I could have told him myself" she repeated.

"Are you okey, really?" her friend tried to make sure.

"I don't know, it's like I'm really on the edge, do you think this is gonna change when we become queens?"

"I hope so, not overnight I guess but eventually" her friend smiled in that contagious way that made Victoria feel better again.

"I guess I would have preferred over night" she said and they laughed.

That morning Victoria thought about skipping practice. Everyone had already gone to sleep and she was really drained from feeling, well, everything today. But her mind couldn't really stop spinning and she knew there was no sleeping anyway. She might as well practise something she knew well and that she knew was exhausting and sleep might come later. She was also a bit concerned about if Tugger showed up today. She didn't really know why the big cat had taken her side in such a silly matter and she didn't really feel like talking about it. Hopefully something exciting happened during the rest of the night that he rather speak about, she thought and went going.

No smiling, dancing her way towards the clearing today, just a stumble trying to pick whatever dance routine would take up most of her attention and energy. No Tugger meeting up on the way out there, she realized when she was almost there and thought that maybe he had enough of kittenish behaviour for a while. As she entered the clearing she saw that he was already there and that he had waited for her. He raised from the ground coming to meet her, as always with a bit of personal space for her.

"Are you okey?" He asked softly with a concerned face.

"Yeah, oh, that was nothing, just really silly me running of like that, I had a strange day that's all." she said, trying to be as light as possible in her voice, showing no signs of all the confusion she felt. "Thank you though for speaking to Plato, Teazer told me, but you didn't have to, I should have done it myself" she mumbled without looking at him.

"That little tom knows what's what know, I made sure about that" he said fiercely, "He had no right to do that" he added a bit softer.

"It's nothing, I overreacted, he probably just forgot and I could've reminded him" she tried to assure the big tom still standing in front of her.

"I watched him Vicki, he remembered, turned out he had lost a bet to Tumblebrutus, I made sure that kit knows too now" He said, again with a darker tone to his voice.

"Haha, touching me is what you get for _losing_ a bet, no I feel much better" Victoria tried to joke to make it less awkward.

"He got dared because he fancies you, stupid" Tugger said smiling again.

"Oh" was all that came to Victoria, now she was even more confused about the sparkles down her spine.

"Do you fancy him too?" Tugger tried to ask casually but being too curious to really succeed.

"Let's talk about something else, there must have happened more exciting things in the yard during the night other than a dramakitten running off?" She tried tried to laugh at it while passing Tugger and starting her warm up routine.

"Very well" he said not pushing it. "No not really, but you saw Bomba teasing me around just to kiss that little friend of yours? Haha those two, they can't have my show but i bet they can have each other now that you're turning queens" He laughed at his own wit.

"What do you mean?" Victoria froze.

"Well Bomba sure can't stop teasing your little friend, and she doesn't seem to mind, just have to tell her make sure she goes for it on the right side of Teazer becoming a queen"

"Okey." Victoria said holding her tears back, not knowing what happened inside her. The feelings ate her up, they were everywhere.

"Just okey? I was just joking around trying to make you laugh but you look like you are wading through spilled milk, what's up with that?" Tugger felt he pressed the kitten a little too hard now, but he was just so curious, he felt the anticipation from earlier growing and started to feel almost like he had an audience watching.

"You really are full of it" Victoria mumbled as she started her hardest dance routine which would not enabling her to talk anymore.

"Whatever" Tugger said. "I think I can find better things to do than provoking the dramakitten" he left her in the clearing.


	5. Chapter 5

Tugger left her keeping up her dance routine, like a machine, he thought. He wasn't prepared for her hard words, he thought they would have a really good morning after what he did. He thought she would be grateful and he had planned on sharing with her why he kept coming to the clearing to talk to her. But she had just made him look silly and pushy. And what was it with those teary eyes? She was so sensitive about that little orange friend of hers. He had only joked about those two becoming mates because it was so absurd, Bomba was clearly focused on the big lion himself. Vicki would keep her friend, and whatever, they were becoming queens and wouldn't lose each other even when the toms started to take some of their attention. And she really didn't want to talk about Plato, that was for sure. Gah! She was so frustrating! All other kittens would have giggled and just loved to talk about their dream toms but she just closed up. The only one she ever talked about was Teazer, and she guarded that kitten like she was hers.

He stopped. Could it be what he had missed? Did Vicki want more than friendship? Was that why she got so upset when another tom tried to get too close? Tugger had to turn around.

Victoria kept dancing with tears running down her cheeks until she could see Tugger disappear around the corner and then she fell to the ground. This was awful! She realised she valued their friendship higher than she thought and that she had actually been quite rude to him. He was just trying to make her laugh and relax a bit. He even let go of that stupid Plato-thing when she asked him. She felt like she couldn't do one thing right today. It felt meaningless to keep dancing this morning, it was no good, she would probably just hurt herself if she kept going too hard like this. She just stayed lying on the ground and started crying out loud. It felt horrible and good at the same time. Of course, todays feelings were high and low.

She heard someone moving closer and tried to compose herself. She sat up, dried her tears but couldn't stop them from returning again. she saw Tugger started running towards her when he saw what the kitten looked like.

"Victoria! I'm so sorry" He said getting down to the ground beside her as close as he dared without touching her. She just kept crying but shook her head. He misinterpreted her as if he was too close and no excuse was accepted and moved away a bit.

" No...I'm sorry" she managed to get out and closed the gap between them again. They sat so close they could feel each others body heat. "I shouldn't have said that" she said trying desperately to keep a clear voice.

"I shouldn't have pushed you" he said. He really wanted to put a paw around her and nuzzle her but he knew he couldn't. He wanted her so badly to feel better. "What can I do?" he said, but saw that Victoria started to calm down a little bit.

"Just sit" she managed to get out.

They sat in silence for a long time, just being close and both calmed down.

"Aw look at me, I'm hideous" Victoria said after a while. Her fur was in a mess, tears and snot everywhere and her face felt all swollen up.

"You are as pretty as always" Tugger said trying a smile towards her. She actually smiled back.

"Well aren't you the perfect gentleman all of a sudden, did you hit your head or something?" She joked, and they both laughed.

"I can observe even though i normally not practise it" Tugger kept the joke going. They both laughed again. "However pretty you look, you got a little something stuck there on the side of, well, all of your face". She smiled.

"I should wash up"

"Do you want me to?" He said without thinking, freezing as he realizes it's more intimate than anything he has ever seen her do to another cat. "I'm sorry! I mean… oh well, there goes my chivalry" he tries to laugh it off, before looking at her again.

"Yes please" she says to his big surprise, but keeping her eyes closed and head hanging.

"Are you sure?" she nods. "Okey, I will start easy, just tell me if it's too much, you can punch me if you want to" he tries to joke.

"Thank you Tugger" she mumbles and raises her head but without opening her eyes.

He leans in slowly, very unsure about where to put his paws but keeps them at his sides. He puts his rough tongue against her forehead as a try. She shivers, but then nods a silent go on. He is slowly washing her face, nothing but his tongue touching her as he can feel the salt of the tears. She still looks sad but more relaxed and he relaxes too. When he is starting to finish he is also starting to think about what he is expected to do next. Even though it is really nice to be allowed to comfort another cat like this he isn't sure if she is secretly wishing for something else. As he is getting more anxious she puts one of her paws on his chin and looks him in his eyes.

"Thank you" she says before standing up and without a word they are leaving the clearing together, both understanding what an beautiful moment they shared and what it meant for their friendship. He walks her to her den, opens her door and makes sure she gets in bed before closing up and leaving, she is already asleep.

Neither of them seeing the orange cat that slips away after seeing them enter Victorias den together. She only leaves one tear on the ground as a trace of he being there.


	6. Chapter 6

Victoria woke up that evening later than usual. The sun was already set and her friend hadn't stopped by. It was lucky she didn't came by practise this morning she thought, everything was already everywhere and it would have been hard to explain. Victoria remembered that Tugger brought her back to her den and panicked for a second when she realised she hadn't checked if he stayed the night. Nope no Tugger here. She was really amazed at how natural it all happened yesterday. She felt immediately that she could trust him and didn't even think about turning his comforting offer down. It was a bit scary at the beginning, she had froze a bit, and felt the fur rising but for some reason it felt important to accept this. It was remarkable that a paw on her shoulders could make her run for it but being cleaned by Tugger didn't. It wasn't necessary a good feeling, but she had felt safe and cared for and that feeling _was_ good. At the end she felt him becoming a bit unsure and she thought it was time for her to show where she wanted it to go from there. She didn't want anything more, only his silence and company. He had touched her only with his tongue and nothing more, and she was ready when it happened. Victoria started to understand that it was the surprises that she couldn't handle. When she was prepared or took initiative it had worked. Maybe she actually had started to change? Hah, and it _had_ happened over night, she smiled, thinking about Rumpleteazer. Why hadn't her friend showed up yet? It was their first night as queens and only two weeks to the Jellicle ball, Victoria knew her friend would want to talk about it? Maybe something happened when she was out with her brother? Maybe that's why she didn't show up during the morning practise? Victoria hurried up and out to figure out what had happened.

Victoria found her friend with the other new queens laughing and gossiping. She had probably only let Victoria sleep in. Victoria smiled and settled in at the outer end of the group just nodding hello to not stop the conversation. Teazer seemed to have not seen her yet, so she just listened to the others. It wasn't too exciting Victoria felt but she liked to see the others so pumped up about it and she borrowed some of their enthusiasm when needed. After a while she felt like taking a break and getting started with the nights dancing. It looked almost like the others didn't care about that tonight so she made a little more space around her and started by herself with warmups. When she was properly warmed up she moved away a bit more to start her dancing and let that occupy her while the others kept talking.

After a while the queens started to do some half hearted dancing while planning on when and where to meet up with the new toms.

"Hello Tugger!" she heard three of the queens cheering in chorus.

"Hello all of you lovely queens, I have brought with me the rest of the toms for you to fight about" He said making a sign for the toms to come forward.

It got really loud and giggly and Victoria felt that her interest was at an all time low. She saw Tugger trying to catch her look and smiled to him with only a nod. 'You ok?' he mimicked towards her and she nodded again mouthing a 'Thank you'. He turned his attention back to the young queens and toms and got ready to put on a show as always. Victoria felt a look and saw that Teazer stood still and looked at her with a weird look on her face. Victoria smiled and moved over to her friend.

"Hey Teazer, didn't you and Mungojerrie go out this morning?" she asked.

"We were out for a bit " her friend said but seemed to have a hard time looking her in the eyes.

"Okey, it was good timing of you to not decide to come by the clearing this morning, I wasn't there so long and the dance didn't go that well" she said. and thought that was probably the easiest explanation.

"I saw you two" Teazer said with a low voice. "i saw you kissing and go back to your place" she said looking like she was about to start crying.

"It wasn't like that-" Victoria started but got cut off.

"I saw you!" she said just a little bit higher but not so the others heard. "I can't even give you a hug but you let Tugger _kiss_ you! Tugger! You said you didn't want that!" her friend blurted out before biting her tongue.

Victoria was about to start explain herself when Plato stepped into the conversation from the side, neither of them had heard him come.

"I'm here to say I'm sorry victoria about yesterday" he said very correctly like he was reading from a card.

"Not now okey?" said Victoria trying to get back to the orange queen before she started to cry.

"Yes now" Plato said "You have to accept my apology, you can't leave" he continued a bit desperate.

"The timing is bad" said Victoria, trying to step away to talk to her friend.

"No Tugger says I have to do it now so that he sees if you accept it" He said, looking over his shoulder towards the big tom.

"Don't mind me Victoria, go ahead and do as Tugger wants, it's not like he cares what _you_ want anyway!" Rumpleteazer almost hissed at her before running away.

"Teazer!" She said after her. "Yes, yes Plato you have my apology, see?" She said, making a thumbs up towards Tugger before running after her friend.

"But I wanted to ask something else" The tom started to say.

"Not now!" Victoria shouted back to him as she saw her friend disappear behind a corner.

She knew she had to catch up with her before she could leave the junkyard. Outside of there she would never be able to find her if Teazer didn't want her to. When she turned the corner she saw both Teazers and her brothers tail disappearing over a fence and out in the London night. Victoria knew it was useless to keep looking for her. She would only get lost and that didn't solve anything. She sighed and felt that Teazers tears had been contagious. So much for a stable emotional life as a queen.


	7. Chapter 7

Victoria understood that her friend got confused if she thought that, it was no point in speculating because it wasn't true anyway. She knew how much her friend tried to get the older cats attention and maybe it was especially Tugger she wanted. It wasn't something that really upset Victoria, she knew no one expected Tugger to be a mate to anyone. If you could catch his attention it was only to hold it for a short while and never to be kept. But it was kind of prestige among the kittens who could be the first of them to catch him, and it was always, by Tuggers request, a public display. Her friend probably just thought that she kind of cheated her way to the top position . It didn't explain the tears really, mostly the anger, but Victoria guessed she wasn't the only one with feelings all over. She could only wait for her friend to come back and then explain what happened. It felt okey since she had her brother with her and Victoria knew he wasn't much of a gossip if it came to that. He liked knowing secrets much better than telling them.

Victoria went back to the others and remembered a bit too late that she had to deal with Plato again there. He came up to her immediately with a rather silly look on his face.

"I wanted to apologise properly" he said, looking mostly at the ground. " Without Tugger forcing me I mean".

"It's accepted Plato" she said.

"Oh okey good" he said sheepishly and went for new air. "I was kind of wondering if you would be my company during the Jellicle ball?" still looking at his feet.

"We don't take dates to the Jellicle ball" Victoria said a bit confused.

"Oh, I meant,, well… after the mating dance you can sit with someone if you want to and so.." he ended the meaning very indistinctly but Victoria got the concept. After the mating dance that one or more of the older couples did when they had decided to take each other as mates you usually should pair up with someone for company, maybe to cuddle or maybe more, Victoria thought with a slight bit of panic.

"Oh, ehm, it's my first ball so I think, maybe, I'll just, ehm, go with a friend" she mumbled.

"Who?" Plato blurted out before he could stop it and looked back down at the ground with a red face.

"Ehhhm" Victoria searched for a good lie. "I will go with Teazer this year" she said, realising that could be really good. Someone who would never press her into crawling over to the toms.

"You can't have a queen" Plato said knowingly. "We don't have to do anything Victoria, just look at the others if you want to?" He said trying to look up for a bit again. Victoria appreciated that he tried, but it just got more obvious that she didn't want to really.

"Okey it is not Teazer" she admitted. "But I don't want to say who" she tried.

"So there is someone you like?" He answered looking like she said the ball was cancelled.

"Just a friend" she tried again.

"There is no one, you just don't want to go with me" he said hurt and a bit too loud. Victoria felt so bad, she didn't want to say that to him but there was no other option left but to break his heart.

"She is going with me" Victoria couldn't believe it when she turned around and realised that the voice belonged to Tugger.

Well the air kind of deflated from the junkyard as he said it. He hadn't planned on it, he was just nearby when Plato had started talking to Victoria and their personal communication system just kind of turned on as he realised that she really didn't want to. He could guess why. The stupid tom-queen expectation was mostly traditional, but even the known couples that had flirted tom-tom or queen-queen usually respected it until they could do a proper mating dance. It was just old fashioned but it was not upon Victoria to have to push that change alone. And he wasn't sure either, he just suspected it. He thought that maybe he could make sure Vicki and Teazer ended up close enough anyway if he helped. Since the whole yard had stopped in motion and gotten quiet he realised he had to break the silence.

"If you'd do me the honor?" said Tugger softly to Victoria, but making sure everybody heard it.

"I'd love to" she said smiling thankfully to her friend.

"Perfect" he said. "Well everybody, that's a wrap" he said with a cheeky grin. "Now I'll have to go see Munkustrap, care to join me Victoria?" He said, making a small nodding motion to make her say yes.

"Yes, sure" she said, not really sure about what had happen and how they could possibly leave everyone with such a newsbomb.

It seemed though as if they all were so chocked that they couldn't think of anything to say to make them stay and explain.

When they got out of sight of everybody they heard a mumbling start. Victoria thought it was awkward to be the centre of attention like that. But now she just realised that even though this was a bit uncomfortable it was a really simple solution for her, but quite the opposite for Tugger.

"Now your ball will be ruined and you have to stay with me when you could have been with Bomba instead" she said apologetically.

"It won't be. There is never a waste of time to hang with you Vicki" he said smiling.

"But your fanclub will be so disappointed, you never take anyone on before hand, you always leave them hoping until it's time." she said half as a joke and half as a continued apology.

"You're right, this will hurt my image, I guess i will have to put up an extra good show during the ball to get them hoping again" he said with a big smile.

"And leading up to it as well, but that's what you do best." she smiled back.

"It will be great, you only have to stick with me during the 'date', otherwise I'll entertain myself, how about that? You can even roll your eyes at me the whole night, yes! Exactly like that!" He said as she had started rolling her eyes. They laughed together. "Don't worry though, it will be great"

"Okey, let's do it" she said.

Victoria had been really happy with the deal, She was sure Tugger would back up her story about going with a friend on your first ball. She realised that she'd been right, he didn't care about who knew about their friendship, they had just had a talk during the night and even a bit among the others so their inner communication signal had seem to grown stronger thanks to last morning.

She hoped that she got to meet Teazer though before the rumour got to her. It could make it a bit harder to explain. She really missed her friend right now. She hadn't been gone more than a couple of hours but Victoria wanted to see her as soon as possible. She felt that she really wanted to make sure everything was okey. She hoped that she could tell her about what Tugger did last night, that it was a friendly gesture and that she had felt differently about herself. She wanted to tell her best friend that a door opened, maybe she could even give her a nuzzle when they met to really show that she had changed? Victoria smiled at the thought. She really looked forward to try and be close with Teazer, what if it got much better and they could even dance together sometime? Or wash each others face? She blushed at the thought of maybe having her friends face that close. What was this? Maybe she just moved too fast forward? But she really wanted to try to nuzzle her friend when they met next time. It felt like she was about to dance circles around her comfort zone but it still only felt exciting and not scary at all.


	8. Chapter 8

Victoria had been out all day to make sure her friend didn't return without her knowing but when the other cats started to drop off to their dens in the late night she hadn't seen her still. When morning was around the corner she decided to go to the clearing for dance practise as usual. Everything had been so messy that she hadn't really got any good exercise in two days and she felt the whole body begging for a thorough practise. She loved dancing but almost as much all the preparation before and taking care of the muscles afterward, it was time consuming and it took dedication and there was nothing like it to clear your mind. Tugger showed up at her side.

"Dance practise?" he asked

"Yes, maybe a little more focused today so perhaps it's not that fun for you?" She said a bit apologetically. Not wanting to push him away when they had come so close.

"It's okey, I can't stay today I will help Munkustrap with some safety planning for the ball, he knows I'm up at this hour usually"

"Okey, I will be fine without you silently judging me" Victoria joked.

"Haha great, I see you around" he smiled.

"Wait!" said Victoria and followed an impulse. She came closer to him and leaned in for a quick nuzzle. She almost didn't touch him, just kind of brushed her fur against his a second.

"Oh" Tugger looked surprised.

"I wanted to try something" she said.

"Okey" he smiled. "Did it feel ok?"

"It did, I think I might try it with Teazer as well later on but I wanted to practise it first with someone I trust" She said with just a slight pink coloration on her cheeks.

"Is there any special reason you wanted to try with Teazer?" Tugger asked, careful not to be too curious. He had not known how to bring up the subject and hoped this might lead on.

"She is my best friend" Victoria said smiling.

"I haven't seen her all day, is everything ok? " he tried. Victoria bit her lip and debated with herself if she was going to tell him.

"She thought that I kissed you last night and got really angry because I said I didn't want you to earlier and then she ran away when Plato came and interrupted us. I wanted to tell her what happened and show her that it was a good thing."

"But why did she storm off?" Tugger asked.

"I think she might like you, or maybe, she just wanted to, you know, win the prize of having the first kiss from you. It's kind of a competition among the new queens" she added and blushed.

"Hehe I know" Tugger said with a cheeky smile. "I bet you can convince her that she still has a shot" he said, before realising that this was counterproductive of where he hoped this conversation would lead.

"Haha yeah" Victoria smiled, and Tugger breathed out. "Anyway I will start practise, you go find Munkustrap and I'll see you later, tell him I said hi" she continued.

"Okey, say, see you later" he said, hoping to get another chance at the subject, oh well, there was a lot of time left before the ball.

Victoria, was in deep focus during the whole practise and didn't realise that the clouds gathered for rain above her. When she was finished it was practically a thunderstorm that had rolled in and she needed to get back to her den as quickly as possible. She hurried away hoping that Rumpleteazer had came back without her knowing and was safe at her den. She decided to take a short cut over an old drawer laying upside down on the ground and all of a sudden it had broken and she fell into it landing on another cat that had took shelter inside. Victoria popped up like she had fallen into a bath, and looked down at Teazer as the rain started to come down.

"Are you ok?" Victoria asked catching her breath on the side of the drawer.

"What do you care?" Teazer said, with tears mixing up with the rain.

"I care!" Victoria said immediately. "I have been looking for you all day, oh I am so glad to see you, can we go inside so I can explain?" she said and the rain poured down making them both look drenched.

"I heard you are going to stay with Tugger during the ball, why didn't you say you liked him?" Her friend started crying for real now.

"I don't! We didn't kiss and he is only taking me as a friend, can we please go inside?"

"But I saw you, he even spent the night!" He friend said with tears and anger in her eyes and tried to run away again.

"Let me explain!" Victoria shouted out the words to her friend. Teazer tried to run away but stopped when she felt a firm paw on her shoulder. "Please?" said Victoria, feeling the electricity flow from Teazer into her paw and went in for a very wet nuzzle.

"You nuzzled me." Teazer looked surprised but a small smile had appeared in her face.

"Can we please get in so I can explain?" said Victoria, smiling back.

She was almost afraid the thunder would hit her as the electricity tingled under her fur and her friend finally gave up and they hurried inside.


	9. Chapter 9

Tugger had went to Munkustrap knowing this was not a chat about safety plans for the ball but he thought he might as well go there and see exactly what he had done wrong this time. Very much as he expected this was going to be about Victoria.

"You are taking Victoria to the ball? Are you out of your mind? You are not ruining that kitten for us you hear that!?" Munkustrap was already so worked up his face had turned red.

"Can you calm down? We are not _going_ to the ball together, you know we don't take dates like that-" he started but his big brother just got more upset.

"That is the worst I've heard, you can't tell her you are going together and expecting her to just settle for sharing the attention, I can't believe you can still surprise me with your lack of conscience!" Munkustrap started waving his arms around being too upset to help himself.

"Can you chill and listen for a second? We are sitting together after the mating dance as friends, she didn't want to be pressured by the toms on her first ball" he said, not mentioning it was a certain tom she had wanted to slip away from.

"For real?" was all Munkustrap could say.

"For real." Tugger answered.

"I didn't know you were friends? Heh! I didn't even know you did something like that for a friend in need! You can't stop surprising me today can you?" His big brother started laughing.

"Bah! I can care about a friend" he said a bit hurt.

"Yeah yeah I know. But I don't think I have ever seen you talk, and I thought I knew about most things around here."

"Well you know I'm awake at this hour and she happens to be too usually so it just kind of happened." he muttered. "She actually told me to say hi from her when we met but you just went all tornado on me before I could say so" he started teasing his brother.

"Well thank you. I was going to talk to her as well about the ball but I wanted to clear the air at first" Munkustrap said trying to sound like normal again.

"What about Munk?"

"I wanted her to dance a solo at the ball. Everyone agrees she is the one who has the most talent of the new queens but-"

"She would love that!" Tugger blurted out "I know she has been a bit afraid of all the attention but I think that's changing and I think she is much more comfortable with everybody watching when she does something she's that good at!"

"So I take it that you have seen her dance quite a lot?" His brother asked amused at the uncharacteristic outburst. Tugger toned it down a bit.

"She is the best one and I think she would be perfect for it" he muttered. "But what?" Tugger remembered the sentence he had cut off.

"But we don't have any Jellicles who are prepared to do the mating dance this year and I was kind of hoping a certain rumour of your date and Plato would solve that for me, but I see now that I was quite uninformed" Munkustrap said a bit concerned.

"Yeah you are, he is actually the reason I'm booked afterwards" Tugger said. "But that can't be such a big problem, it's a lot of time left or just have some of the older couples 'renew' their dance?" Tugger said laughing as he knew how much his brother loved the traditions of the ball and wanted everything running smoothly and preferably planned out on beforehand.

"That is actually not a bad plan Tugger! Look! You managed to surprise me again, you better get going before you go back to disappointing me, this is highly unusual" his brother laughed out loud.

"Duh!" Tugger said like he had gotten hurt but smiled back eventually. "But do you want me to ask Victoria about the dance or should you do it yourself?"

"Why don't you ask her? It sounds like you are knowing her much better than I do, but make her come confirm with me afterwards will you?" Tugger smiled at his brothers need of control.

"Well I better get going, I think she is probably done about now and I can't keep walking around keeping queens awake all nights, they need their beauty sleep" He joked with his usual cocky tone.

"Aaand we're back to normal" Munkustrap teased back.

As they came to the door the rain poured down and the maine coon knew what that did to his long, perfectly groomed mane. With a sigh he asked if he could take a nap at his brothers until it had stopped. He could ask her in the evening instead.

Victoria finally got her friend inside and they were both soaking wet, Teazer both from rain and tears. First things first Victoria thought and brought out some towels and blankets to dry them up and keep them warm. They looked at each other and laughed at the sight of the other queen, neither had very long fur but when wet they both looked like they had shrunk three sizes.

"Let's dry up" Victoria said as she handed her friend a towel. "And then talk"

Her friend nodded and they got the worst of the rain out of the fur, knowing that it would take several more hours of grooming to get it all out. They were still really cold afterwards and cuddled up under a blanket each. They sat down on the bed close to each other so they could share some body heat. Victoria felt her friends warmth radiate towards her whole right side and it felt like there was an ocean between her right and left side of the body. She wanted her whole body to become warm like that but didn't know what to do. It had felt so much easier to just lean in towards her friend out in the rain, she almost wanted to go back out there just to be closer again.

"What really happened Victoria?" Teazer asked so low it was almost impossible to hear it.

"I don't know really" she started. "I was having such a weird day and then he said something about you and I got really angry and snapped at him and he left and I started to cry and then he came back and it just happened." she rambled. "But we didn't kiss! He- he washed my face" she said looking down a bit embarrassed for some reason.

"He washed your face?" Teazer said looking like that was highly unlikely, which it was.

"Yeah… I don't know why but I just felt safe for some reason, I looked horrible and he offered and for some reason it didn't feel scary, it felt okey...it felt like I could trust him" she said still looking down.

"But you can't trust me like that?" Her friends voice had started to tremble again and Victoria looked up into her eyes.

"Is that why you ran away? I thought you wanted Tugger first of the new queens, I even thought you liked him when you ran off like that" Victoria felt the warmth spread through her body.

"Hah! I don't care about him" her friend laughed out before she went back to her sad face. "I only care about you" she said looking into Victorias eyes.

"Oh" Victoria couldn't keep the look and felt her face go deep red when she looked down again. She decided to follow through with her plan to show Teazer all this had been for something good so she looked up again. "Can I… can I try something?" she whispered.

Her friend nodded looking into her eyes and Victoria leaned in and started washing off the remains of the tears on Tezers face just like Tugger had done to her. She tasted the salt on her tongue and it felt like warmth and electricity flowed into her and she started to get a bit dizzy but she didn't want to stop. Her friend carefully put her paw on Victorias in the lap and Victoria shivered feeling the fur rise in a whole new way in her neck. Her friend immediately removed her paw but Victoria grabbed it again and looked into her eyes.

"I think I only care about you too" she said hoping her friend would see the fire that had started burning inside her but afraid she might push her away. They were only friends and nothing more but at that moment Victoria realised that that was only half true. They were only friends but that didn't mean they only wanted that. She wanted something else.

"Can I try something too?" her friend asked and Victoria nodded. "Please don't hate me.." her friend whispered as she put her lips against Victorias and Victoria could feel her whole body go up in flames. She squeezed her friends paw in hers and met her friends lips making the kiss last what felt like forever and only a second. Her friends eyes widened before she smiled so big that the kiss ended early.

"I trust you too" said Victoria with a low voice looking down again.

They were still holding their paws together and Victoria felt that they had both started shivering. She didn't know if it was the rain or the kiss or both but she couldn't stop. She looked up at Teazer and saw that the orange cat shivered and smiled looking at her.

"Do you want to stay during the storm?" Victoria asked shyly and a bit afraid about what it meant. She was already dizzy from everything that had happened and didn't know if she could handle so much more right now.

"I'd love to" her friend said but then looked away with a concerned face.

"What's wrong?" Victoria asked realising she was terrified that her friend had changed her mind about everything.

"I just...I feel like everything has happened so fast...I'm really tired and uhm..I would love to sleep a little if that's okey? We can still hold paws if you want to?" Her friend said looking at her feet but squeezing Victorias paw quickly.

"Me too" she said smiling as her friends mouth smiled back at her.

The two young queens laid down facing each other holding one of their paws in between and fell asleep almost immediately.


	10. Chapter 10

Tugger had a bad sleep at his brothers den. He didn't like sleeping anywhere else but home or in the centre of a crowd admiring him. He woke up as his brother was still sleeping deep and peeked outside. The rain had finally stopped and he thought maybe he could just sneak away to Victoria and look if she was up or not. If she wasn't he would just let her sleep on and she didn't need to know he'd been there. He was bored, knowing that a bad nights sleep would make him skittish all day. He wished he had gone with Victoria that morning instead of getting a scolding by his older brother. But then he remembered himself why he was going to hers now and smiled. She would really be happy about the dance, he knew how much it meant to her. As he came close to her den he saw that the door wasn't properly closed, a small crack left open and he got scared for a second that maybe she had been caught out in the storm and that something had happened. He leaned in carefully not to disturb her if she in fact was there and peeked through the small opening. He saw the two queens laying next to each other on the bed holding paws and he felt his heart grow to double it's size. She made it happen all by herself, he thought and smiled from ear to ear.

"See anything you like?" he heard a bitter voice ask behind him. He turned around and saw Plato coming his way.

"Why are you here Plato?" He said as loud as he dared and firmly closed the door to warn the two queens inside. He wasn't sure they were ready to be outed just yet.

"I came to check on Victoria after the storm, only as a friend" he added being a little scared of the loud tone Tugger had used. "And you?"

"Same reason, but as a date having all the bigger reason to disturb a queens beauty sleep, beat it Plato" he said, locking eyes with the young tom.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that, I was only worried" he said apologetically.

"No harm done, well it seems we both were too late to the party, Victoria has already left her den" he lied. "Come on, let's get some breakfast I bet the rats are starting to come out after the storm now" he said laying his arm around the young tom who followed him, confused about being so well treated all of a sudden.

Victoria woke with a twitch as the door slammed and a voice started speaking loud outside. She was looking straight into Rumpleteazers eyes and they had both pulled their paws to themselves in chock. Victoria heard Tugger speaking with Plato and recognized the panic in her friends eyes, this was not a good time. They hadn't even got the chance to talk about yesterday and now they had to decide what to tell others. Both stood up like they were hit by lightning and started making the bed, grooming themselves and tried to telepathically decide what to do. When Tugger loudly exclaimed that no one was home and that they were leaving they both settled down for a bit. They sat down on the bed and Victoria was kind of hoping her friend would take initiative.

"Sorry, I panicked a bit" said her friend. "I'm not used to being awoken like that in someone elses home" she said shyly.

"Me too" Victoria said and they both fell silent. "Did you, ehm, sleep well?"

"Oh, eh, yes thank you" her friend said nervously. Victoria figured they both waited for the other and decided to try for initiative, she put her paw on Teazers.

"I did too" she looked into her friends eyes. "I am glad you stayed." she said looking down all blushed hoping her friend would take it from here.

"Me too" her friend nuzzled her and sneaked in a small kiss on her cheek, they both blushed all the way down the neck. "Maybe now that winter is nearing there will be more bad weather" Teazer smiled and hope Victoria would laugh to ease the tension. She did.

"I hope so!" she smiled big. "Do you want to talk about it?" Victoria asked seriously, both wanting to know and afraid of the answer.

"Okey" her friend said and swallowed equally afraid. "Do you want to start?"

"Okey" this is going too slow Victoria thought. "Do you regret anything that happened?" she asked holding her breath.

"No, do you?" her friend said with a shiver in her voice.

"No, nothing" Victoria smiled.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" Teazer said looking down at the floor with panic.

"Yes" Victoria said and smiled with her whole face.

"Me too!" said her friend looking up at her and smiling before lowering her eyes again. "But maybe I don't want to tell everybody just yet if that's okey? I don't know what they think, I know there are toms who live together but no queens and they would only think we are imagining it because we are too young" her friend rambled on as her lower lip started quiver.

"It's okey" said Victoria. "I think you are right, we can wait….and.. maybe you will get sick of me in a while and then they would all have been right" Victoria bit her lip as she had let out her fear. Her friend put her paw under her chin and looked her in the eyes.

"Come on, how could I get sick of the prettiest queen in the yard?" Teazer said and put her lips against Victorias.

As Victoria left for dance practise she was smiling, feeling her whole body still tingling from the fire that Teazer had started inside her. They had agreed that no one needed to know just yet and that it in fact wasn't weird at all that two young queens sometimes spent the night at each others for comfort and company. They were all very young when they got their own den and it was common for young queens and toms to seek the company of others when they felt lonely. Victoria almost felt like it would be fun to keep the secret from everybody, something they only shared and that no one could judge or stop.

All night she and Teazer had been in the same part of the junkyard but not really talking to each other. Just sharing a look every now and then. When the morning neared the other cats dropped off to their dens and Victoria headed towards her clearing for morning practise. She hadn't decided if she would tell Tugger or not. She usually didn't bring up things that much and she had never giggled and gossiped about someone she liked. As she was turning the corner of an old oven she felt someone gently brushing her shoulder and saw Teazer that had hidden there waiting for her.

"Are you going to dance?" she asked

"Yes I hoped to" she said a bit unsure about if she were supposed to be with Teazer instead, but she rather saved that for later, her practises were important to her.

"Oh I'm not stopping you, I am just going out with Jerrie, he had found a great new place we will look up closer" her friend said and Victoria realized that these adventures were just as important to Teazer as her practise.

"I hope you get in" said Victoria smiling.

"I'll bring you back something" her friend said and winked. Victoria laughed.

"Thanks, maybe I'll see you later then?" she asked carefully.

"Maybe, I ditched him last morning so I might have to stay out a bit longer today" her friend said looking really sad.

"It's okey Teazer" she assured her, "I'm looking forward to next-" was all she could say before she got interrupted by a kiss.

"Thank you for understanding" Teazer said as she pulled away. "And hey, tell him if you want to" said Teazer blinking before she acrobatically jumped away towards the fence.

Victoria smiled. Teazer had read her mind.

Victoria reached the clearing a bit later than usual with a smile and slightly red cheeks. Tugger had been a bit worried that she might not show up and be with her friend, _no girlfriend_ , instead. He had avoided her on purpose today so that he could tell her about the ball in private. He knew they had spent the thunderstorm together and that they had held paws but he felt very protective against Victoria and wanted to make sure everything was as good as it had seemed to. He had waited for her quite long and had started pacing back and forth and just as he decided that she wasn't going to come and he could leave she showed up. He smiled when he saw her, she looked really happy.

"Hello Tugger, did you wait for me?" Victoria asked and felt a bit embarrassed that she had been delayed. They hadn't made plans to see each other but they had their routines.

"Just a few minutes, I have some news for you from Munk" he said.

"Oh really?" Victoria blushed for some reason, she felt like she was more red than white in her face nowadays.

"It's about your dance, he wants you to do a solo at the ball because everyone agrees you are the best dancer here" he said, so happy to be the one who saw her reaction first.

"Really? Wow" she said couldn't contain herself and lept forward to give Tugger a hug. It felt different from Teazer but still very good. "Oh sorry" she said pulling back again.

"No it's okey, I'm so happy for you Victoria" he said. "You seem a lot more relaxed today is it something that has happened?" he said with an inquiring smile as Victorias face colour almost went maroon.

"Oh, ehm" Victoria mumbled, she felt like Tugger would understand but still wasn't sure if this was okey and then she realised- "Why did you think I wasn't home this morning? I heard you say I wasn't home but you hadn't knocked so how would you know?"

"I'm sorry Vicki, I should have said something right away, but I came to you earlier to tell you about the dance and your door wasn't properly closed so I just looked in to make sure everything was ok, and then Plato showed up and I had to improvise, I even had to spend an hour chasing rats with him, he's quite boring you know" Tugger said trying to joke.

"He is ok" said Victoria looking down at her feet. "And did you see me before he came?" she whispered nervously.

"I did Vicki, it looked like Teazer accepted your nuzzle-experiment?" he blinked at her smiling and Victoria dared to look up again.

"Heh, yeah" she smiled. "She stayed during the storm so nothing would happen" Victoria said, still not sure about telling Tugger about the kiss.

"Oh she's lucky to have a white queen in armour to keep her safe during the storms" Tugger teased. "Myself I had to stay at Munks ,where is the fanclub to keep you warm when you need them huh?" Victoria blushed again but recovered.

"Well you're welcome to join us next thunderstorm if you can behave" Victoria teased back.

"Oh I wouldn't know how to" he said, surprisingly intrigued by the thought. He shook the feeling and went on to the subject he was most curious about. "Well, did you kiss?" he said with a mischievous smile.

"Mm" Victoria nodded looking away but she couldn't help but smiling and blush back to her now normal red face.

"Wow, big step! So are you mates now? Is it official?" he pushed on seeing how Victoria was really uncomfortable but still seemed like he hadn't crossed a line yet.

"Ehm no, we thought it would be our secret for a little while longer" Victoria said and felt the fear from earlier come back. "What if the others don't approve? They will only think we are young and don't know anything, and I don't really, I don't know anything about this" she said forced and then whispered "and maybe Teazer will get bored with me and...and..."

"Hey hey take it easy. You _are_ young, but that doesn't mean it can't be for real. And most couples stay a bit secret in the beginning to see how they feel about it, but when you feel sure you can tell anyone you want and if they don't approve I will make sure they do" Tugger was actually quite proud of how the words came out, he felt like he handled this better than he had ever guessed and hoped Victoria felt the same.

"Thank you Tugger" she said and kissed him on the cheek, feeling so much more comfortable around the two cats than she ever thought she would.

"Oh lovely" he said pushing back the thought of that kiss being a little longer and a little more to the centre of his face. "I'm sure Teazer isn't going to get bored with you either Vicki, so don't worry about it" Tugger said firmly but confused. 'what was this?' he remembered Munks stern face from earlier.

"I'm glad you know, but you won't tell anyone right?" Victoria said a bit concerned about the look on Tuggers face.

"No way, this is between us" he said back to normal again.

"Teazer might come by here some morning she said to say hi" Victoria continued.

"Oh, of course" Tugger said and felt a familiar tingle at the thought of seeing the two young queens kiss.' what was wrong with him? I'll have to turn this off' he thought

"Is it okey if i get started with practise?" said Victoria. "I feel like I have to try some things so I can come with some good suggestions to Munk for the ball"

"Be my guest, I'll supervise" Tugger said with a silly arm gesture.

This was not a good thing Tugger thought as he laid down to watch Vitoria practise. He was usually quite good at turning those thoughts on and off. When his fans teased and followed him around he would just tease back and consume the attention. That tingle inside was reserved for other occasions and he rarely let it come forth.

But now when he watched Victoria stretch and warm up he enjoyed watching a little too much. 'What that queen can do to her body' he thought and chased it away just as fast. It must be because he hadn't really moved forward with any of the other queens for a while he figured. Feeling a bit silly that the thought of the two queens had that effect, he definitely needed some action of his own, he thought with a small laugh.


	11. Chapter 11

Teazer didn't show up before Victoria had finished dancing. She lingered longer with stretches afterwards but realised that it was very likely that the orange cat had had a good run with her brother and it was okey to not see each other all the time. Victoria and Tugger went back towards her den and said goodbye. Victoria was happy that she had told him, he had made her fears of the others seem silly and she was so glad he said that they could tell whenever they wanted, he got their back. But something was still different. He had been acting a bit off when she told him about the kiss and he seemed to react when she kissed him on the cheek, and it looked like he saw her differently when she glanced at him during the dance practise. She decided to take him on the words instead, he was probably just not used to this. There was no other queen mates in the tribe at the moment, at least that Victoria knew of, and maybe he was a bit unsure about how to act on it. He really didn't seem to think it was wrong in any way.

Victoria lay down in her bed and realised she had started to think more of her friend as _hers_ after the conversation, like it got more real when you said it to someone else, but still, it would be nice to keep the secret a little longer. And it was fun to know something that no one else did. The small looks and winks during the day had been fun, they could show each other they were special without anyone knowing. Victoria had always thought of herself as a kitten who would grow up and be mated to another tom and have kittens of their own. But now she was a bit divided. She hadn't felt like this towards someone before, queen or tom, and maybe she was just attracted to Teazer and not necessarily only queens. It felt more reasonable to fall in love with a certain cat rather than a gender, but maybe you had to choose? She didn't want anybody else but maybe you could be attracted to both? She thought both the toms and the queens could be cute even though she hadn't felt like _this_ for someone else. She couldn't ask Teazer about this, but maybe she could ask Tugger next time? He would understand that she didn't think of someone else, she was only curious how it worked.

Victoria didn't know how long she had slept but the sun was up when she heard a light tap on the door to her den. She was immediately awake and went up to open. Rumpleteazer stood there holding something behind her back.

"Are you awake?" she asked unnecessarily.

"Well obviously" said Victoria but smiled. "Do you want to come in?" her friend nodded.

"I said I'd bring you something" she said with a mischievous grin. "Tadaa!" Teazer had picked up some kind of bread in a cup that had pink frosting on top.

"What is it?" Victoria asked.

"Good" said Teazer. "I don't know but me and Jerrie ate like three each and they are amazing, this is for you" Teazer put it down on the floor and patted the ground next to her for Victoria to sit down.

"Thank you" said Victoria and sat down, this was a great interruption to her sleep. "How do I eat it?"

"Like this" said Teazer picking up some frosting with her finger and held it under Victorias nose. It smelt amazing.

"Oh" Victoria blushed but leaned in and licked the frosting of the finger feeling like it were made from sparkles and fire. "This was good" she said feeling some thickness in her voice and hoped this wasn't tears coming, she didn't feel sad at all.

"You got some on your chin" Teazer said with the same kind of low voice and licked it from her face, her tongue barely touched Victorias lip but instead of sparkles in the lip she could feel a tingling sensation in her lower belly. Victoria turned her head and put their lips together. The kiss got deeper than before and felt like it lasted forever. When they eventually pulled apart it felt like it was only them in the whole universe and that the universe also happened to contain only this room. They both looked at each other without speaking and then suddenly Victoria couldn't help but yawn.

"I'm not tired!" she said immediately.

"Haha yeah sure, then I guess you are bored?" said Teazer laughing. The tension in the air loosened up and Victoria laughed too.

"Do you want to finish the rest of the cake when we wake up later?" said Victoria after they had stopped laughing. Teazer had started to yawn as well.

"Yeah, let's sleep a little" she answered and without pushing any boundaries they fell asleep in the same way as the night before, facing each other, holding paws.

Tugger had not found any queen up for some early morning action and had went to bed quite frustrated. He reasoned this must be because of the dry season, he usually wasn't this easy to turn on. He tossed and turned all morning, missing the sound sleep he usually had after some time with the dancing queen. He smiled at himself, thinking he had to remember to call her that tomorrow to see what comeback she could surprise him with. The tingle came back and he let out a frustrated sigh.

"Already up or not yet to sleep?" he heard a voice from the door. As he turned around he saw his friend Mistoffelees looking amused.

"What are you doing here Misto?" he said grumpy.

"Just passing by and couldn't help but recognizing a certain unfulfilled sighing from the playboy mansion " Misto said looking even more amused.

"Well the wet weather is not matching my situation very well" he said, and started to groom his mane after the tossing in bed.

"You can't possibly mean that you don't have enough queens in line? Or toms?" Misto kept teasing him. They had kissed a couple of times but it didn't seem to be more than friendship between them.

"Bah!" said Tugger with no good answer to that, he knew he could have any pick he wanted. 'Or could he still?' he thought. "How about yourself then? You are up early and obviously alone"

"Oh but my situation is a bit more matching to the weather, thank you for asking" His friend said with a wink.

"Oh really? Got some today already?" Tugger teased but got a bit jealous. "Who is the lucky one?" he kept going.

"It was just fooling around, not that much action really" Misto said with a little more bitterness in the voice.

"Ah, so you've had guard duty with Alonzo?" Tugger said, knowing about their arrangement that was never to be more than that.

"Yeah yeah whatever, at least it's something. But why are you tossing around like this?" Misto said, laying down with his neck resting in Tuggers lap. They had always laid down like this when they talked, since they were kittens.

"Frustration as you guessed" Tugger said. "Misto have you ever felt some attraction to any of the queens?" Knowing well that his friend mostly played for the other team.

"No not really, I've kissed a few and they are lovely to hold and fool around with but you know how I feel about the rest of it."

"Yeah I know" he knew he could not betray Victorias trust and tell her older cousin about her and Teazer but he still needed to get some of the frustration out.

"Oh by the way Tugger I heard you are taking my little cousin to the ball?" Misto said and Tugger stiffened. He hadn't told his friend that yet. "Don't worry, I've talked to Munk and he enlightened me on your friendship. I haven't talked to her that much since she moved to her own den, how did you become friends anyway?"

"I'm up late and so is she so it just happened, you are not that close huh?" Tugger said realising they had never really talked about Victoria, she hadn't mentioned Mistoffelees either.

"No not really, she is actually not my real cousin but they found her and raised her with my other cousin so we always called each other that" Misto said shrugging his shoulders. "But what about all this frustration Tugger, what got you going?" his friend laughed.

"Well" he decided to tweak the truth a bit. "For some silly reason I can't stop fantasizing about two queens kissing and, well, you know" he said with a grin. "I really seem to only want what I can't have have" Tugger laughed at the irony.

"I know why you keep thinking of that" said Misto.

"You do?" said Tugger a bit anxious he had said too much.

"Yeah. the other day when Bomba started teasing you with Mungos sister, oh I do love that fantasy" said Misto.

"Yeah that must be it" said Tugger breathing out. "Wait what? Do _you_ fantasize about queens?"

"They are lovely to watch Tugger" he said with a wink. "But they don't get you all the way"

"No I guess that wouldn't work" Tugger said, surprised by his friends preferences but definitely intrigued.

"Haha I can't believe that you haven't thought about this earlier, I bet you are always the star of your own fantasies!" His friend couldn't stop laughing and Tugger had to admit he had a point.


	12. Chapter 12

Victoria was woken up by Teazer kneading at her paw and purring quietly. She smiled and decided to wake her friend with a kiss. Oh it felt wonderful to sleep like this.

"Hello there sleepyhead" Victoria said mimicking what her friend usually called her when she dropped by.

"Hello you" said Teazer and gave her a quick kiss back.

"You know what I found out yesterday?" said Victoria realising she hadn't told her friend yet about the ball.

"That you like frosting?" her friend teased her.

"Haha yeah, that too" smiled Victoria. "I am going to dance a solo at the Jellicle ball" she said proudly and lost her breath as her friend dived in for a hug.

"Oh I knew they would pick you, you are the best of all!" Teazer said, loosening her hug.

"You think so?" Victoria smiled

"Everyone thinks so" said her friend seriously.

"Thank you. But that means I have to practise a bit more than usual and I also have to get up and see Munkustrap about preparations" she said apologetically.

"Of course! You will be fantastic, I can't wait to see you dance" Teazer said smiling. "Do you have to go right away?" she said with a cheeky smile.

"Maybe not right away" answered Victoria.

"Let's eat the rest of the cake then!" said Teazer and jumped up leaving Victoria a bit confused. She had more kisses than cakes on her mind but got up.

"Mm it's delicious today as well, thank you for bringing me a present" said Victoria politely.

"I'll find more!" said Teazer reassuringly. "Did you tell Tugger about us?" she asked carefully.

"Yes, he said we could keep it a secret if we wanted but if we wanted to tell people he would make sure they approved" she said rolling her eyes. "Did you tell your brother?"

"Haha good to know! Yeah I told him, he said he had suspected it for a while and it was no problem, he said hi for you"

"Oh thank you. Do you want to come by and say hi when i hang out with Tugger this morning?" Victoria said, feeling like she wanted to show off her queen to someone.

"Sure, but we'll keep the secret from the others for a while longer right? It is quite fun to have this almost all to ourselves" Teazer said giggling.

"Yeah" said Victoria. "I need to get going, but I see you later, you can stay as long a you want to" she said and they kissed before she left.

After Victoria had been to Munkustrap to plan for the solo she started practising. She would not have a long solo but she wanted it to be perfect and they had planned something that would be a challenge but not too hard. She practised all night long while the others mostly hanged around the Rum Tum Tugger who seemed to be on top of his game today, giving her a wink and a wave every now and then and she rolled her eyes in response and smiled. Teazer had shown up and she was as usual somewhere in the middle or on the edge of attention, though she made sure to give Victoria some discrete signals every now and then that she saw her and thought about her.

Victoria had been consumed by her dance all night long while the others didn't seem to be doing any practise at all today. She heard that there was more action around the maine coon than usual but that suited her well as she could be left alone. Tugger on the other hand was going all in on his act as player and king of the junkyard. He kept egging the audience on but didn't feel like he could get past or shake that stupid queen-fantasy. When the youngest kittens started to drop off and the other queens didn't seem to be in the mood tonight he decided to find Mistoffelees.

He found his friend by himself practising some magic but Tugger could see that it was only easier stuff and Mistoffelees let out a yawn as they saw each other.

"Getting tired?" Tugger asked

"Yeah, you know it's almost past my bedtime" the other tom laughed.

"Want to do something? I'm bored" Tugger said as casual as he could.

"You are not bored, you are horny" said his friend laughing.

"Well, yeah" he said feeling a bit surprised, he had hoped it wasn't that obvious. "Have you got some yourself?" he tried to get back at Misto.

"You can't get them out of your head right? The queens? I knew this was going to wreck you, I'm sorry I encouraged it" His friend said sounding very little like he regretted anything.

"It's so stupid" Tugger said with a moan. "I can't put myself in a fantasy like that, so how can I want it so much?" He whined as the frustration got obvious.

"Close your eyes" said Misto and Tugger felt silly but did as he said. "I'm going to paint you a picture." he whispered in his ear, suddenly close, and Tugger could feel his breath against the fine hairs in his ear and let out a sigh. "You keep those eyes closed and that mouth shut" he continued and Tugger felt his breath getting heavier. "You just woke up and are going out to see if anyone is awake. It's much earlier than you are usually up and you don't expect anybody to be up yet. When you pass the clearing at the end of the junkyard you hear someone let out a moan almost not audible to your ear but still, it was really something there wasn't it? You stop, and catch a glimpse of a queen you know with her back against you. As you look closer you see that she is leaning in towards someone who stands with the back against a tree. You can see a hand reaching for the queens neck as they kiss. The hand wanders down her back and rest just above the tail. You can see that your queen is turning her head and leaning it backwards as the other cat is letting the kisses travel south. Your queen starts to purr as the other cat gets lower down. You see her stopping, pulling the other cat up on it's feet again before leaning in to place her kisses on the neck of the other cat. Now you can see the cat standing against the tree. It's one of the queens you saw earlier today eyeing you as you put your show on. You are startled when you see her locking eyes with you" Mistoffelees said as he gently put one of his legs around Tuggers and laid him down on the ground, whispering in his ear. Tugger can hear himself breathing heavy. "She winks at you as she lets the other queen kiss her neck and continue further down" Misto says as he lets one claws follow Tuggers body from the collar bone down his chest and towards his hip. "The standing queen starts purring, eyes locked in yours, she is struggling to stand up as the other queen puts her lips against- Am I doing okey putting you in the fantasy?" Misto interrupts with a cheeky smile as Tuggers eyes fly open.

"Don't stop" Tugger says with a thick voice as he pulls Mistoffelees in for a kiss. Misto let's the kiss deepen before he pulls aside.

"Well that was great" he says. "But I really have to get going, I need my beauty sleep, not everyone wakes up looking as gorgeous as you Tugger" he says teasing the other tom. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I will give you hell for this" Tugger moans before smiling.

"I hope so" says his friend blowing a kiss his way before leaving.

Tugger lays on his back in the clearing aroused and frustrated. He needs someone now. If Misto hadn't left he would have taken his friend no matter what, he needs to get this out of his system, like hours ago. He is just about to help himself as he hears someone coming.

"Tugger! Did you wait for me?" Victoria says as Tugger rolls over on his stomach to disguise any possible clue to what just happened.

"Hah, eh no I just happened to be here, Misto just left" he says trying to clear his voice.

"Too bad, I haven't seen him in a while, you are not getting a cold? You sound strange." she says.

"No I'm fine" Tugger says, getting a little control of both his throat and nether regions. "Dance practise huh?"

"Just a bit" Victoria says. "I have been at it all day long and I feel like I need to take it a bit easier, maybe just stretching this morning" she says with a smile. "So maybe I'm more fun to be around"

"Haha yeah, great" says Tugger composing himself and sitting up, Victoria sits down next to him.

"Can I, ehm, ask something?" She starts carefully and Tugger nods. "Well I didn't want to ask Teazer, she might get the wrong idea" she's slowly nearing the subject and Tugger nods again. "Well, how do you know you only like queens? I like Teazer but can I also be attracted to toms as well? Not that I am! But.. do you have to chose?" Victoria says as she's looking very promptly at her own feet, red down her neck.

"You can like both" Tugger starts. "Of course you can, I don't know what life would be if half of the cat population just would discard me as eye candy" he says with a smirk. "There isn't someone special you think about?" he says with a seductive smile towards her.

"No, no one" she says to his disappointment. "I was just curious how it worked and you know more than I..." she says embarrassed.

"Haha yeah I know" He tries to joke. "Anything else you want to know?" he keeps teasing her and Victoria smiles and gives him a quick nuzzle.

"Haha I bet it's all talk" she teases back to his surprise. "But I was kind of meaning to ask you… no it's stupid" she says embarrassed.

"No tell" Tugger says really curious about what's coming.

"Well, I was just wondering…. it's embarrassing" but she is mustering up some confidence. "What do you do when you want to do a bit more than kissing but is not ready to go _all the way?_ " she says and feels her red face almost go down to her shoulders. She can see Tugger raising an eyebrow.

"Well, well, well I was not prepared for that Vicki you naughty kitten" he says and sees his friend almost crawling out her skin from embarrassment. "Don't worry" he assures her. "This is normal, what have you done so far?" he asks and feel that stupid fantasy Misto painted for him start messing with him again.

"Forget it, I was just.." Victoria interrupts herself. "It's fine"

"No no, by all means do tell me what you want more from your friend?" he says without being able to hide his excitement.

"Just forget it" Victoria says embarrassed. "It's no hurry anyway" she mutters and Tugger regrets being so pushy.

"I'm sorry, you tell me or ask me when you want to, no rush" he assures.

Victoria starts to do some stretching and massaging of the muscles. She's feeling like Tugger is not his normal self today, something is off but she still appreciates that he can let things go. He is a good friend and maybe she can ask him another day.

Hi, am I interrupting? Victoria hears Teazers voice and feel like her heart is melting. This is _her_ queen.

"No not at all" says Tugger as Victoria goes over to give Teazer a nuzzle. Tugger feels a small shiver down his spine.

"I just wanted to say hello, but actually I am feeling really tired" says Teazer apologetically. "Do you want to stay up and practise Vicki?" she asks.

"No not really, I feel like I am done for the day actually" Victoria smiles.

"Will you excuse us Tugger?" Teazer asks in his direction. "I'd love to come by some other day and spend more time" she apologises again.

"Of course" says Tugger and Victoria at the same time. They look at each other and their eyes lock as Victoria leans in and kisses Teazer. Tugger smiles as he is blaming Misto for how his body reacts.

"I'll see you tomorrow" says Victoria and leaves holding paw with Rumpleteazer. Tugger waves back and gives out a deep moan as they turn the corner. 'This is not good' he thinks.

As Victoria and Teazer rounds the corner they start kissing. Victoria is really happy her friend waited a bit, she felt like Tugger was a bit awkward around that first kiss she gave Teazer and she couldn't really enjoy it as their eyes kind of locked. Victoria and Teazer keep kissing until they are entering the centre of the junkyard and Victoria pulls away carefully.

"Maybe we should be a bit more careful if someone is awake and sees us" she says not wanting to stop but respecting Teazers wish to keep the secret.

"I don't care" her friend says and pulls her closer before letting go again. " Or maybe we should, I really like you Vicki but maybe we can keep the secret until the ball?" she says.

"It's okey" says Victoria. "I also like it being secret. But.. heh, I liked showing you off to Tugger" Victoria says blushing.

"Me too" says Teazer. "It felt amazing that you kissed me when he watched"

"Haha yeah, I hope he wasn't too uncomfortable" Victoria smiles.

"I think he was ok" says her friend with a smile that Victoria can't read.

"Do you want to go back to my place?" she asks shyly.

"Sure" Teazer says.

As they enter Victorias den she can feel her friends paw sliding down her back slowly.

"Can I hold you tonight?" Her friend says and Victoria nods.

They fall asleep together and Victoria purrs as her friend holds her tightly.


	13. Chapter 13

Tugger feel like such a jerk. He doesn't want Victoria, he respects her, why are these thoughts intruding on their friendship. He felt like he was making his friend uncomfortable even though he really hoped she didn't know why. He was fine with them being together, but what if his stupid fantasy made them feel like he wasn't? He had to get it together. 'Let's give it a few days' he thought. 'I might as well hook up with one of the queens and get this out of my system'.

A few days passed and Victoria kept going with the tough practise before the ball. Tugger hadn't showed up during the mornings like he used to but she felt like that was good so she could go all in and not get distracted. She still wanted to ask him a bit more about the relationship with Teazer but felt like there was no rush. They had decided to take it slow until the ball so there was no pressure. Victoria appreciated that, she had been a bit afraid that they had to keep moving forward like the first couple of days. It had went fast and she was emotionally drained even though it felt so good, it was also very new to them both.

She had seen Tugger keeping the audience entertained during the last days like normal but he seemed to be sneaking away from the spotlight a little earlier than normal with what looked like mostly Bombalurina but she had also seen Cassandra disappear at the same time as him one of the nights. 'Good for him' she thought with a smile. She knew he was a player but had always thought it was mostly talk and image but it seemed lately that there had been more to it. She hoped he wasn't going to brag about it when they met next time. He still had made sure everyone knew they were going to stay together at the ball as friends and had defended that choice several times as the other queens had tried to convince him otherwise. They thought she was just boring and even though they didn't mind her they thought it was a waste of time to have the hunk of the tribe go with the silent mouse. He managed to stand up for her but still keep them on the edge about the promised performance he was gonna put on.

With just a few days left to the ball and her own performance being perfect in execution she started to relax a bit more. When she went to the clearing this morning she had decided to take it slow, maybe just dance for fun and let go of the worries about the solo. When she got there she started to laugh as she saw Teazer stand in the middle of the clearing with a red rose in her mouth. As she smiled the rose fell to the ground.

"Haha what is this?" said Victoria smiling.

"May I?" said Teazer holding out her paw with a cheeky smile.

"Oh" said Victoria, blushing, she had never been asked to dance with someone like this before.

"I thought since you worked so hard on your solo it would be fun to try something else?" her friend said as she took Victorias paw in hers.

"That was exactly what I had in mind actually" she smiled back, letting herself be pulled in close.

As they started dancing Victoria felt so light, almost weightless as her acrobatic friend lead the dance. They were built very differently and Teazer was much stronger and moved in a whole different way than Victoria did, but somehow it felt like they flowed like water together. As Victoria started to relax even more she could feel Teazer lifting her gently before laying her down on the ground. Victoria lay on her back with Teazer on top of her and they closed their eyes and kissed. Victoria could feel her friend freeze a bit and opened her eyes. She saw Teazer looking up behind her blushing and turned her head. There stood Tugger watching them with his mouth open. Teazer got up and held out her hand to help Victoria up.

"So you are sneaking around here without saying anything?" Rumpleteazer teased him.

"Eeh I was just…." was all that Tugger managed to get out.

"Didn't mean to leave you speechless" her friend kept teasing. Still no reaction from Tugger and Victoria went over to him and gave him a nuzzle.

"Are you really okey with this?" said Victoria quietly so that Teazer wouldn't hear. That seemed to snap Tugger back to reality again.

"Of course I am Victoria, you are beautiful together. I was just startled that's all, I thought you were alone here." he was able to say in his regular voice. "Do you want to be alone?" he asked so they both could hear.

"It's okey, you can join us" said Teazer with a blink towards Victoria.

"Sure, come on. I think we were just finished dancing" said Victoria returning the blink to Teazer. Tugger looked a bit uncomfortable but they sat down together in the clearing.

"It was an impressive lift there Teazer" he said. "Just make sure you're not hurting yourself" he tried to joke.

"Haha, very funny, Victoria is light as a feather, you should see when I have to lift Jerrie, he is the reason Vicki has to keep helping me with my back all the time" she teased back at him.

"Haha yeah he's more like a log than a feather" Tugger kept laughing. Victoria always got a bit insecure when they started teasing each other, she couldn't really follow their tempo and just started to stretch to do something. Teazer took her paw.

"Victoria, do you mind helping me a little with the back though?" she asked carefully. "Jerrie's got sick so that's why I stayed this morning but I actually had to carry him back to our den earlier"

"Oh of course" said Victoria, a bit uncomfortable about helping her friend as Tugger was still around, but decided that she had to get past this as well sometime and why not with the two cats she trusted most.

"Don't mind me" said Tugger with a small cough, like he had read her mind, but still with a look that Victoria couldn't really read. She decided to take it as if he was a bit uncomfortable too but still okey with it.

Teazer laid down on her stomach and Victoria sat down next to her starting to feel through her muscles.

"You can sit on top if it's easier" said Teazer with a similar look that Tugger just had.

"Oh, ehm, okey" she said looking nervously over at Tugger but he nodded at her to go ahead.

Victoria straddled her friend just above her tail but careful not to sit down with her weight and started to carefully go through the muscles again. It was a lot more easier this way and she soon got absorbed with the work, trying to find the main problem. She was in deep focus but couldn't really find that much tension in Teazers back as she saw her looking over at the tom, wink and let out a small content sigh. Victoria was brought back to reality by a sudden purr. It did not come from Teazer and she froze as she looked up at Tugger. He had immediately stopped and sounded like he tried to disguise what had happened with a cough, patting himself on the chest to get the cough under control. Victoria could feel that she had gotten red and warm in the face and didn't know what to do. She felt very uncomfortable when she realised they had egged each other on and that she had unknowingly been a part of it. She stood up hastily with her eyes wide. This was not something she had wanted.

"I'm not feeling that well" she said. "I think I will just go to bed early" she blurted out and started to leave the others. "I see you tomorrow!" she said before picking up the pace and headed home.

Victoria felt so confused. Did her friends really wanted each other instead? Where she only some kind of bridge they had used to get closer to each other?. It had felt so real, both her friendship with Tugger and her relationship with Teazer, did it mean nothing to them? She felt really used and didn't want to go back to her den, she knew they would find her there immediately if they looked. She didn't know where to go and then came to think about her cousin. Maybe Mistoffelees would let her in even though he probably slept. At least he knew what Tugger was like and maybe he knew what had happened with Teazer as well. She felt so ashamed, she had really opened up to them both, why would they do this to her?

Victoria slunk into Mistos den without knocking, she didn't want to stand outside where she could be seen. She walked over to his bed and rocked him carefully.

"Misto? Please wake up" she whispered as the tom opened his eyes, looking like he had no idea where he was or who he was.

"I'm awake! I think..." he said very confused. "Victoria? Is that you?" he asked her.

"Can I stay here?" she asked looking at the ground.

"Of course, come here" he said and made room for her on the side of the bed. "What happened?" he asked, as he realised that this was not just some catching up with the cousin.

"Tugger" she said, suddenly not sure if she wanted to mention the relationship with Teazer.

"What did he do!?" Misto was up in a second, red faced and with fury in his eyes. "I'll find him right now and give him hell if he even touched you!" he shouted.

"Please quiet down? I.. I don't know what happened..." Victoria started crying and Misto sat down again next to her.

"Please tell me what happened?" he said softer and did his best not to put his arms around her.

"He.. I.. I can't tell you because I love someone and it's a secret!" she blurted out and buried her face in her paws.

"There, there, you can tell me, you don't have to mention any names, just tell me what Tugger did and I'll fix it" he said and felt Victorias head lean against his shoulder. He took it as a sign he could touch her and carefully put his arms around her. "Is this okey?" she nodded.

"I like someone.." she started. "And we met up all three this morning and everything was okey but then I was giving her..I mean him, eh the person a back rub and it turned weird" she said crying against the shoulder of her cousin.

"So you like a queen, that's whatever sweetheart, you don't have to say the name, but what got weird? Tell me." he comforted her.

"Is it really whatever? Tugger has been weird about it even though he said it was okey and now I don't know if _she_ only wanted Tugger anyway. I feel so stupid" cried Victoria and Mistos heart ached as he could feel her pain. He knew he had egged Tugger on about the two queens and if he'd known that one of them was his young cousin he would have never done it.

"It is whatever, you love whoever and nobody has the right to think anything about that. But are you really sure that she wants Tugger? It sounds like she is someone who is really important to you and I think that you are really important to someone who can make you feel that way" he tried to make her open up.

"I don't know. She have said earlier that she didn't care about him, that she didn't want him but now I don't know."

"Can you tell me what happened when it got weird?" Misto tried to guide her back to what had made her feel like this.

"I was really focused on her and I didn't find any stiff muscles and when I looked at her she was making faces to Tugger, like.. you know!"

"No I don't, you have to tell me" Misto said softly.

"Like she enjoyed it in another way and then she winked to him and he started to purr and it got weird!" she said starting to feel angry. "Like I wasn't part of it, I just happened to be there. I don't think she had any back pain to start with, I think she only wanted me to do that for Tugger to see!" Victoria got really upset now but had stopped crying.

"It doesn't sound very nice." said Misto to comfort her. "But maybe, I'm just guessing here, maybe your queen wanted to tease Tugger not because she wanted him but because he is such a vain loser?" Misto said trying to make her laugh. It worked.

"Haha he really is sometimes" she let a small smile come out. "But why would she do that? Isn't it enough to have me?" Victoria said sadly.

"I think she just got a little caught up in the fact that she had the power to make the one who always makes the rules dance around her pipe" Misto sighed. "He is so predictable sometimes it's almost boring, he only wants what he can't have." he rolled his eyes at her and felt the tension loosening up a little.

"Why would he ever be turned on by two queens?" she laughed. "That's the only constellation he can never be in, is he that eager to be turned down?" She was happy Misto had made her feel a little better again.

"I think I have a small part in that one unfortunately" he said looking embarrassed.

"You?" Victoria asked surprised.

"Yes I know, I don't want queens like that but they are really pretty to look at you know" he blinked at her."I was just pushing his limits about something, very much like your little queen did to him earlier" Misto said looking both embarrassed and a little smug.

"What did you do?" Victoria said and felt like she let what happened go and enjoyed the story.

"I was just egging him on about what happened in the yard some time ago when Bomba seduced Mungos little sister in front ef everybody.. what's wrong?" Misto interrupted himself as he saw Victoria expression get sad again. He bit his tongue the second he realised how everything was coming together. "She is your queen right? Teazer?" he said feeling stupid for bringing up something like that.

"Yes" said Victoria looking at her feet.

"I'm sorry I said that. But you have nothing to worry about Vicki, Mungo says she can't stop talking about you, he has suspected that she liked you for quite some time now, that Bomba-thing was just provocation. I think she really likes stealing Tuggers thunder!"

"She has liked me for long?" Victoria said looking up with wide eyes.

"At least it was really long ago that Mungo told me, I had actually forgot about it until now. You have nothing to worry about, do you feel a little better?"

"Yeah, thank you" Victoria said and hugged him.

"Do you want to stay here or do you want to go find Teazer and make out- I mean make up?"

"Haha you really like that too? You toms are weird" she laughed.

"Well just remember you have that power over us now and don't misuse it!" he said with a wink. "Oh well, please use it to make Tugger feel uncomfortable, you have my permission to toy with his feelings if you want to" he laughed.

"Haha maybe I will" Victoria laughed. "I think I will go find Teazer now, I have to explain why I fled."

"Do so, and Victoria?" Misto said. "I'm really glad you told me about her, tell anyone you want to, it's nobody's business" They smiled at each other.

Victoria was so much happier after she had talked to Mistoffelees. She felt a bit stupid that she could have thought Teazer wanted the tom and she got all warm inside when she thought about what Misto had revealed. Teazer had liked her for a long time and now finally they were together. She decided to start at the clearing but no one was there so she thought that maybe Teazer was back at her den again and she headed over there. As she turned the corner she ran into Tugger. She had preferred if she had met Teazer first of them but she had to talk to him eventually.

"Vicki! I'm so glad I found you, are you okey? Where have you been?" Tugger asked while catching his breath.

"It's okey I went to Misto, we talked" she said reassuringly.

"Oh That's perfect" he said with a bitter tone but got back to Victoria again. "It was nothing over there, I was just dreaming away to something, ehm, I actually talked to Misto about earlier." he said looking very embarrassed as Teazer showed up and put her arm around Victoria.

"Yeah he told me about that" said Victoria and silenced Teazer with a kiss as she looked over at Tugger raising an eyebrow. She put her paw on Teazers neck and let it slowly slide down her back as Tugger dropped his jaw. She let go of Teazer who looked very confused and happy at the same time. "He said I have some kind of superpower now and he kind of gave me the permission to misuse it" she said as she took Teazers paw and led her towards her own den. "Bye Tugger, sweet dreams" she couldn't help but wink at him.

As they came out of sight from Tugger Victoria started laughing and it got even more fun when she saw Teazers confused face.

"Misto explained what you did earlier" she said when she had caught her breath again.

"How would Misto know about that?" said Teazer still looking like she missed quite some information.

"He told me that Tugger is hooked on the fantasy of two queens together and now I understand why you think it's so funny to tease him all the time, did you see his face?" Victoria laughed out loud again.

"Haha now I get it!" said Teazer. "Oh are we gonna have some fun with this together!" They supported each other as they laughed their way back to Victorias den, stopping for air every now and then.


	14. Chapter 14

**So this is a short one but I think next one will be longer and that will probably be the last one. Please tell me what you think.**

It took Tugger several minutes to bounce back from what just had happened. 'Did he just got played by what everyone thought was the grey mouse of the tribe?' Surely this can't be? he thought. After a while he started to laugh at himself, he had never been so turned on and speechless at the same time. He was always in the driver's seat of seduction, and the whole irony of it was that he had nothing in his toolbox of attraction that could interest Victoria as a comeback. He was quite certain that even though she wasn't sure she exclusively liked queens, all she wanted was her orange friend. He felt really embarrassed for being so thrown off his throne but still something inside him was also proud. It was really his work that Victoria had started to relax a bit more, and maybe this could come in handy once he got used to it. He had seen Rumpleteazer enjoy her ability to turn him on even though she didn't want him, and to be honest he was absolutely powerless around it. He could feel himself blush at the thought that he had started to purr without even realising it, he was always in control of that, he never let out a sound around a queen, or tom, if it wasn't in his favor of egging them on. 'And I never blush at anything!' he thought with a moan into the silent morning. Even though this made him feel quite week he couldn't help but also getting really turned on. And then he realised, there was someone in particular that was both responsible for planting this in his head and at the same time for enabling Victorias so called superpower. "You're in trouble now Misto" he said to himself before heading towards his friends den.

Misto was again woken up and reasoned that Victoria had come back and figured it had not gone as well as he hoped. 'I bet Tugger screwed it up' he thought as he went for the door. He had to adjust his eyes up a bit as he realised that it was in fact the tom himself who stood there with a smug smile on his face.

"Well hello there Mister Magician" Tugger said with sarcasm. "I heard a rumour that you are handing out superpowers for cats, huh?" he continued as he moved in closely to Misto. "And permissions to misuse them" he whispered into his ear with a seductive voice that got Misto a bit weak in the knees.

"Well eh so you've talked to Victoria I guess?" Misto tried to laugh but ended abruptly when he felt the larger tom put a finger over his lips.

"Schh" he whispered. as he put his paw at Mistos neck instead. "I think I got a hold of some superpowers of my own" Tugger slowly put his lips against his friends and let the paw slide down his back. He could hear Mistos breathing getting heavier. He let his paw rest just above the tail and started to kiss and nip a the toms lips, then cheek, then neck. Tugger could hear a small purr deep in Mistos throat and let his tail wander up the inside of his thigh. "So how do you like my superpowers so far?" he teased Misto as he pulled back even though he was starting to get himself in the mood as well.

"Don't stop" said his friend in very much the same way as Tugger had done the last time.

"You know this was fun, seems like a reoccurring thing for us" Tugger said sarcastically. "I guess I'm gonna leave you to get back to that beauty sleep of yours" he kept teasing.

"I guess should have seen it coming" said Misto with a laugh. "You said you'd give me hell for it"

"Any time Misto" Tugger said with a smile before he left his friends den. He knew he had pushed the limit a little far but it was harmless between them and he needed to feel like he was his normal self leaving every cat wanting more. He closed his friends door with a smug smile but as he did so he heard Mistos voice mocking him.

"The pleasure was mine"

Tugger felt just as frustrated as before when he turned back towards his den for some sleep. 'I need to pull of hell of a show at the ball if I want to get back in the driver's seat again' he thought to himself.


	15. Chapter 15

**So here's the last chapter of my first fanfiction. I would still be really glad for a review, I'd love to make some changes if you think I can make it better. I hope you forgive me for only picking pieces out of the Jellicle ball and making some changes. Do I need to follow up with Plato? He moves on quick, right?**

As Victoria wakes up the next morning she feels a bit guilty, She know Tugger is older and more experienced than her so he could probably take a joke like that. But what if what she did actually ruined their friendship? She had been so caught up in everything new with Teazer that she had almost forgot how much her and Tuggers friendship had evolved as well. Maybe she was pushing it too far? And what if, oh everlasting cat no, he would actually think she wanted him and he would want her? That would make for a very uncomfortable ball. She figured that she needed to talk to him and maybe it was the sooner the better. Teazer hadn't woken up yet and Victoria carefully loosened herself from the orange cats hold of her. She knew that Tugger was probably asleep as well still but when she had made up her mind to go speak to him she felt like it couldn't wait a minute.

Victoria made her way over towards Tuggers den and realised that she had never been there before. If they headed back together in the mornings they always went by hers first. When she reached his door she started to question whether this was in fact a good idea or not, but as she heard one of the cats who patrolled the junkyard walking closer she slunk through the door without knocking. It was a mess in there. She had kind of expected it from someone like The Rum Tum Tugger but still it was spectacular how things could be laying around everywhere. As her eyes had adjusted fully she located the bed which was of course in the centre of the den. She rolled her eyes to herself and pushed back a laugh as she saw that Tugger was just as messy a sleeper as his den. Paws in all directions, the mane spread out all around his head and an open mouth. She silently moved closer and sat down next to him laying a paw on his shoulder to wake him up.

"Tugger? Are you awake?" she asked knowing well that he of course wasn't.

"No" said the maned tom without opening his eyes and Victoria figured he probably answered in his sleep.

"Tugger? what do you dream about?" she couldn't help herself but asking.

"What?" answered the tom as he opened his eyes in confusion. "Victoria! What are you doing here?" he said with a slight panic in his voice. "Did we…? No?" he stared at her face and Victoria couldn't help but starting to laugh at him.

"Haha I don't know what we've done in your dreams but I just got here" she teased him with her newfound superpower before stopping herself. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't do that to you" she said looking embarrassed.

"Why are you here?" said Tugger with a raised eyebrow as the immediate panic had gone. "I thought you'd be with Teazer going 'all the way'?" he teased her about the other day. Victoria looked down blushing. "Oh come on, you deserved that" he said with a smile, pulling her down to lay on his arm, fascinated that the young queen didn't seem to mind things like that anymore.

"I guess I did" she smiled back.

"But why _are_ you here? It's not everyday you wake me up in bed that's for sure" he nuzzled her gently.

"Tugger I… I came to make sure that I didn't ruin anything with us?" she said hesitantly.

"Do I seem angry?" he said with sarcasm but he realised Victoria had something more on her mind.

"Well no, but, you know, I wanted to make sure, ehm, I only want to be with Teazer" she said blushing so much Tugger could feel her face getting warm against his arm.

"Come here" he said pulling her towards his chest. "I get that, there is no question about that and I wouldn't want it any other way okey?" he could feel her nod. "But with that said, my body doesn't always agree when you two start teasing me around like that. I don't know what it is Victoria, ehm…" he said with a small cough and now it was Victorias turn to feel her friends face getting just slightly warmer.

"If I hadn't known better I'd say you are blushing Tugger?" Victoria looked up at her friend with an amused look on her face.

"Oh shut up!" said Tugger looking away sheepishly. "Can you please try to take me on the words instead of my actions?" he pleaded. "I would never try anything with you or Teazer…. but I can't seem to help myself looking and, eh, fantasizing" he coughed again.

"Haha I bet you are always the centre of attention even in your own fantasies" Victoria laughed at him. "But I believe you."

"Something similar has been pointed out to me earlier actually" he muttered. "Thank you, promise to hit me if I can't behave, preferably as hard as you can" he joked.

"Haha sure thing" Victoria laughed. "Now..." she started with a cheeky smile. "Can you please tell me more about what happens in those fantasies, I'd love to try something new when I get back at my den"

"Come on! This is not fair!" whined Tugger.

"Please though?" she said begging. "I actually have no idea what to do and the ball is tomorrow and Teazer said we will only take it slow until after the ball. Please?"

"Fine." Tugger sighed. "But you have to laugh at me and mock me so I don't get going again, okey?" Victoria nodded enthusiastically as Tugger started to slowly tell his story. Hoping that instead of him being a creep Victoria dared to ask what she really wanted to know.

They spent a long time laying in Tuggers bed just talking and they both felt like this was safe ground for their friendship. When Victoria had nothing more to ask Tugger started yawning.

"I'm sorry I woke you up" Victoria apologised. "But thank you, really, you are a great friend."

"No problem, anything else?" he asked as he couldn't stop another yawn.

"Well I was thinking" Victoria started. "Teazer and I will keep our secret during the ball and I really am happy that you will stay with me after the mating dance is done, but I was kind of hoping that we could try and end up next to her" Victoria blushed deeply again. "I would only want to be close to her to share the moment!" she added quickly.

"Haha, yeah, that was kind of my plan all along" Tugger laughed at the coincidence. "I had plans on doing some match making between you two at the ball" he added when Victoria looked confused.

"Did you..did you know already?" Victoria was baffled.

"I had my guesses" Tugger said looking as smug as ever. "Don't worry about it, I'll ask Misto, he can take Teazer and we'll make sure you can 'share the moment' when we all cuddle together" he said with a blink.

"Oh thank you! It will be so much fun!" Victoria hugged him before raising up from the bed. "I will let you sleep a little more now, I see you later Tugger"

As Victoria left his den Tugger again felt like he had pulled that of so much better than he thought he had in him. He went back to sleep with a smile on his face hoping that he wouldn't ruin any plans for Misto during the ball.

Tugger was going over to his friends den to ask Misto about the ball. He had felt rather childish after yesterday both because he had taken revenge in that way and because he had lost the upper hand. He felt really off in some way. He could still make the kittens and queens in the junkyard dance around him and have their full attention but it was something about these three other cats that made that seem like not enough. He was planning on making an unforgettable performance at the ball and had just assumed everybodys undivided attention, but now he started doubting himself. 'Have I lost it?' he thought.

"Hello Tugger, coming back for more already?" Teased Misto sitting outside his den.

"Yeah yeah whatever, I'm here for another reason, can we talk inside?" he muttered.

"Sure, come on in" said Misto who heard this was not the time to keep pushing. 'Had he lost his confidence?' he thought to himself a bit worried. The junkyard without The Rum Tum Tugger would not be the same. 'Maybe I went too far?' he thought feeling a bit guilty. Tugger laid down on his bed and Misto laid down with his head on Tuggers lap as always.

"It's about Teazer and Vicki" Tugger said and made Misto feel even more guilty, he had probably really took it too far this time. "You know they are together and they want to wait until after the ball to tell everybody. Victoria stays with me during the mating dance and after and maybe you could take Teazer and stay close so they can 'share the moment' together" he said rolling his eyes.

"Share the moment?" Misto said raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah I don't know whatever that means, they want to be close without being obvious I guess and I seem to have a problem with saying no to those two" Tugger said with both a bitter and an amused tone. Misto suspected he was only acting on the bitter part.

"You and me both" said Misto with a smile. "Of course I'll do it" he said looking up at his friend. "You seem a bit out of touch today?" he tried.

"It's nothing" Tugger said looking away. Misto sighed. He knew his friend well enough to know that meant the exact opposite.

"Come on, tell me. Did I push too far with all this teasing or something?" Misto said feeling like taking the bull by its horns.

"Haha no I can take a joke" Tugger laughed. "I'm just...I feel like I can't impress you three and I'm starting to feel like maybe I don't have that much of a performance to offer at the ball anymore, there, happy?" said Tugger with frustration.

"Don't worry about it Tugger, you will never really impress me, you know I think you are as predictable as the moon" Misto said seeing his friend getting more upset. "But you have everyone else dancing around your pipe. I'm sure even Victoria and Teazer, especially Teazer, won't be able to take their eyes of you when you put those moves on" He said with a blink.

"Yeah I'm pretty hard to resist aren't I?"Tugger said with a grin getting his old confidence back.

"Predictable as always" Misto teased. "Are we gonna have our hands full watching over those two on the ball?" he changed the subject.

"You know Victoria pressed me for information on what to do next? Let's just hope they keep it until after the ball like they planned." he sighed.

"You know what the moon does at the Jellicle ball" Misto said. They looked at each other realising this would be quite the test of character for them both.

Being Tugger, he managed to pump up the expectations in everybody about the ball. Especially in Munkustrap since he refused to give him any information on _when_ he would make his appearance.

Victoria was really nervous about her own solo even though she knew she had practised to perfection. She had also heard the rumours of what the Jellicle moon could do to cats but felt confident in doing her solo early on before everyone had gotten carried away by it. She hoped the rest of the evening would be magical and her and Teazer had talked about how it would be to lie down, holding paws and look up at the moon together.

As the day before the Jellicle moon would rise was coming to an end the expectations raised high among the junkyard cats. When the night finally arrived you could feel the tension in the air. Victoria felt like she got carried away and when they started to dance and sing together it all got a bit overwhelming and she couldn't really make out which parts were planned and which were spontaneous. It seemed that all cats, old and young got affected and it was almost like their body temperature rose collectively. Eyes got bigger and brighter and voices got stronger and clearer. Everything was like it was lifted an inch from the ground she thought and all cats danced like it was the only thing that mattered. As they were moving over to the naming of the cats Victoria knew her solo was coming near and tried to make eye contact with Munkustrap to make sure she went off at the right time. When she couldn't catch his eye she got nervous as she realised that it's almost time. She felt a small tap on the ground next to her and and saw Mungojerrie making a small motion for her to start turning off to the side to do her solo. She smiles to thank him and as soon as she knows that she is on the right place at the right time all nervousness goes away.

Afterwards Victoria can't remember even doing the solo but something in her body tells her she did her best performance ever. All her friends congratulate her on it and especially Mistoffelees keep repeating that she was marvellous, that no one could take their eyes of her as she danced. Teazer gives her a nuzzle and a discrete kiss on the ear as she whispers 'You were fantastic'. Victoria feels like she is floating on clouds and is starting to relax to enjoy the rest of the evening without the pressure of performing.

Tugger is sneaking up on Misto as Jennyanydots song is starting. "I plan on making you both impressed and surprised tonight" he says with a grin as he starts grooming his already perfect mane. Misto just raises his eyebrow. "With my performance, duh" he adds. "I felt like taking on a challenge" Tugger says puffing up his mane.

"I bet you will" says Misto rolling his eyes and smiles. "Just make sure you bounce back when I bring you down to earth again" he says.

"The Rum Tum Tugger always bounces back" Tugger says as he jumps up on a piece of junk, ripping down a poster and interrupts Jennys song. "Meow"

Misto can't help but starting to laugh, Tugger sees it and continues his performance, checking of 'surprised'. Misto sits himself down in the background watching Tugger go all in 'Tugger' and have to give him that no one can bounce back like him, it actually is impressive. As he gives the other tom some credit he gets hit in the face with a ball. 'That's it, I'm taking him down again' says Misto to himself and makes his way towards the centre of everybody's attention. He waits for an opening and breaks in.

"The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore" he sings with his most unimpressed voice while rolling his eyes.

"There's no pleasing you Misto" Tugger whispers back to him before he, like always, brushes it off and puts everybodys attention back at him again.

The performance is spectacular and Misto can see both queens and toms having a hard time controlling themselves. He gets eye contact with Victoria who blinks at him and mimes 'watch this'. He can see her joining in on Tuggers most ecstatic fanclub and egg him on even more. Teazer stays in the background but her eyes are focused on the tom just as much as the others. When he ends it Misto can't do anything but smile. 'Predictable as the moon' he thinks and admits to himself that the moon actually is a bit unpredictable this night.

The rest of the ball actually follows Munkustraps well laid out plan for the night, apart from the usual chaos during the battle of the pekes and the pollicles but he can accept that as part of a tradition. It neares the mating dance and since there were no new couples ready he had decided to surprise Demeter with a renewal of their own dance. He is not the spontaneous cat to just surprise everybody but he thought he had managed to keep the secret from Demeter. Demeter had of course found out on her own but when all the other cats encircled her she acted surprised to please her mate.

When the dance starts Victoria can feel Tugger closing up on her side but she only has eyes for Teazer. She can see a black shadow right behind Teazer and guesses Misto found her. The two queens follow the rhythm of the tribe as the dance intensifies, the heat is rising and all cats lie down in a circle together. Between Tugger and Misto lays the two queens facing each other, holding paws and looking into each others eyes. Victoria feels intoxicated by the moon and the heat rising around them and can see the same thing in Teazers eyes. The world is shrinking and without losing eye contact Victoria puts her paw around Teazer and pulls her closer. She can feel the tail of her queen following her leg up towards her hip and let her own tail intertwine with it. They kiss quickly and Victoria can feel her lips sparkle with electricity and it's spreading through her body. They know they are not supposed to but Victoria can see the fire burning in Teazers eyes as well. She realises this must be hard for the two toms both to look at and to cover from the others but she realises it doesn't matter, all she wants is Teazer and whatever tradition stops that isn't worth holding on to. "I love you" whispers Teazer and before Victoria can answer they kiss again, holding on, deepening the kiss. "I love you too" says Victoria pulling away from the kiss and they both purr looking deep into the others eyes.

Tugger is trying to make it look like it's him who cuddles with Victoria and sees Misto struggling likewise with Teazer. Tugger swallows as it takes all his willpower not to look directly at the two queens in front of him, instead his eyes lock with Mistos and he can see his friends frustration doing the same. "Keep looking at me" Tugger tries to whisper through closed teeth. That seems to break the spell between the two queens and Victoria turns her face towards Tugger with red cheeks.

"I'm sorry I...it's.. just" she stutters.

"It's okey" says Tugger still with his teeth closed and trying to stay in control. "But it's almost over now and you can continue later if you want to" he says, very firmly pushing that thought to the side.

"She loves me" says Victoria smiling and blushes again.

"That's fantastic and everything but you know I was just here and heard it myself" he blinks at her.

"Do you think the others saw?" she says with a little bit of panic in her voice.

"No I think they were all absorbed with themselves" Tugger says calmly even though he has no idea how much the two toms were able to disguise. "But if they did, does it matter?" he asks her. Victoria looks over at Teazer who lies in the arms of Mistoffelees looking at her.

"No, I want everyone to know" she says.

The ball continues and the cats rise up again. There seems like Tugger might had been right about the others, no one seems to care and they get back to their celebration. The rest of the ball continues in a blur to Victoria, all she can think about is Teazer and to kiss her again. As it is almost over Munkustrap comes over to Victoria to congratulate her on her performance earlier. She thanks him and just as they are as closest he whispers almost not audible "Traditions are not that important Vicki, follow your heart" and blinks at her. She looks up at him and smiles, there is only one cat in the world she wants to be with right now. Victoria walks over to Teazer takes her paw and kisses her so that everybody can see.

"I don't care who knows" she says.

"I only care about you" Teazer answers just like that first morning in the rain and they leave the clearing together.

Tugger and Misto has stayed close to the two queens ever since the mating dance just in case someone would say something inappropriate. They let out a sigh as they see the two queens letting everybody know about their relationship and walks the same way as them like the two bodyguards they have been acting like all night. They can hear them talk and giggle together.

"That was a rough night" Says Misto swallowing.

"I feel like I blacked out after my performance" says Tugger. "By the way, admit it that you were a little bit impressed with that" he says with a smirk.

"Haha surprised, but never impressed Tugger" Misto teases back.

"Good enough" declares Tugger.

"What do you think they giggle about?" says Misto nodding over at the queens.

"Oh I have my guesses" says Tugger as he hears Victoria lead the conversation into fantasies. Tugger stops outside Mistos den as they see the two queens continue towards Victorias den. Misto looks up at what's left of the moon for the night.

"I think there is still some time left to impress me" he says and walks inside, leaving his door half open. Tugger smiles, shaking his head to himself and enters.

 **I hope you liked it, let me know, and if you didn't, let me know, this was my first one so I assume I will get better at it. I'm thinking about writing a sequel since I liked the pairings, especially the Tugger Victoria friendship, and I would love to write them again when they are a little less awkward around things and each other. But it was fun to write them a bit silly and awkward as well. Anyway, if you read this, thank you.**


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